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The passing of my dear friend Azyumardi Azra
My friendship with Buya Syafi’i, Pak Azyumardi and many more Muslim scholars and leaders of Muslim organizations has enlightened me about Islam and its role in the struggle for the common good in Indonesia.
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Last tribute: A mourner fills in the guest book at the house of the late Muslim scholar Azyumardi Azra in Ciputat, South Tangerang, Banten, on Sept. 18. Azyumardi died in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday and will be buried at the Kalibata Heroes Cemetery on Sept. 20. (Antara/Muhammad Iqbal)
A
dear friend of mine, Azyumardi Azra, passed away from heart failure on Sept. 18 at Serdang hospital, Selangor, Malaysia. It was a great loss for me and for Indonesia.
The last time I saw him was at the celebration of the 40th Anniversary of Prasetiya Mulya University on Sept. 6, just 12 days before his passing. On that occasion we chatted on the same matters of the university where he served as a member of the Board of Advisors.
He stated that together we could become an element of change for future developments of a well-run university. Pak Azyumardi was that kind of a person who always thought of and advised others for the good of themselves and for humankind.
I met him for the first time in October 1999, when both of us were interviewed by an Australian radio/TV on the chances of Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid, then the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) chairman, becoming the president of Indonesia and how he was expected to perform as the head of government. President BJ Habibie then just lost his presidency when the People’s Consultative Assembly rejected his accountability report.
Pak Azyumardi and I both supported Gus Dur as president, but it turned out that his presidency was cut short and he was succeeded by his vice president Megawati Soekarnoputri in 2021.
Since then Pak Azyumardi and I became close friends and we worked on many issues of relevance to Indonesia. For me, he was the kind of Muslim scholar ideal as a partner in our common efforts to build a democratic Indonesia. We had engaged in various kinds of cooperation including seminars, conferences abroad and other endeavors in our mutual interest in education as Pak Azyumardi’s membership in the Prasetiya Mulya University’s Board of Advisors.
I recalled my conversation with the late Buya Syafi’i Maarif, a former Muhammadiyah chairman, many years ago when he asked me why I did not have good rapport with Indonesian Muslim scholars. Frankly, I explained to Buya Sjafi’i that I did not know enough about Islam then and instead of learning about Islam’s great contribution to the struggle for independence, I only learned about the Darul Islam rebellion and the divisive issue of the Jakarta Charter.
