Burial site important to ex-president

Jombang, NU Online
The burial of former president KH Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid at the Maqbarah family cemetery in the Tebuireng Islamic boarding school in Jombang, East Java, was his final wish, says his brother KH Salahuddin Wahid (Gus Sholah).

Gus Dur was buried next to the grave of his grandfather, KH Hasyim Asy’ari, founder of both the boarding school and Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country’s biggest Muslim organization and which Gus Dur himself once chaired.<>

“He came here on Dec. 24 to visit the graves of our father and grandfather before visiting the graves of other NU figures in Central and East Java,” Gus Sholah, a manager of the boarding school, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Anik Aziz Bisri, a cousin of Gus Dur’s, said that before his death, the country’s fourth president had talked about coming to Jombang Thursday, which later turned to be the same day he was buried there.

“The space next to KH Hasyim Asy’ari’s grave had been left empty to show our respect for Kiai Hasyim,” Anik said.

“Now it’s the spot where we have laid to rest Gus Dur, whose services to the nation were numerous.”

The 2,500-square-meter family cemetery is located behind the Wisma Hadji Kalla, a building officially opened in October 2007 by then vice president Jusuf Kalla.

Also buried in the cemetery are Nafidoh, KH Hasyim Asy’ari’s wife, and KH Wahid Hasyim, Hasyim’s son and Gus Dur’s father, who served as the country’s first religious affairs minister under then president Sukarno.

Gus Dur was born in Jombang on Aug. 4, 1940, and died last Wednesday at Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital in Jakarta. He is survived by his wife, Shinta Nuriyah, and four daughters, Alissa Qotrunnada, Zannuba Ariffah Chafsoh, Anita Hayatunnufus and Inayah Wulandari.

KH Hasyim Asy’ari founded the Islamic boarding school in 1899 in Tebuireng, which was previously notorious as a center of prostitution, gambling and other criminal activities.

It was here that the NU was later established on Jan. 31, 1926.

Sociologist Bagong Suyanto, from Airlangga University in Surabaya, East Java, said Javanese tradition allowed only rich, honorable and dignified families to have their own family cemeteries.

“In the past, only royal families had their own cemeteries,” he told the Post on Friday.

“Now families that are financially and socially privileged, regardless of their being royal or not, can have one too.”

Bagong added family cemeteries served as reminders to younger generations of their heritage.

“For the NU community in particular, a family cemetery of such a noted cleric as Gus Dur will make it easier for them to visit, especially because visiting cemeteries is part of their tradition,” he said.

Local resident Sayuti said the family cemetery at the Tebuireng boarding school had always been popular with pilgrims paying homage to the likes of KH Hasyim Asy’ari and KH Wahid Hasyim.

“Just like today, thousands flock to the cemetery here,” he said.

“This allows us local people to cash in by selling food and drinks to the visiting pilgrims.”

Chairman of the East Java's NU KH Mutawakkil Alallah said thousands of NU members in the province would hold mass prayers for 40 consecutive days for Gus Dur. (dar)