Ex-Indonesian leader Abdurrahman Wahid is buried

Indonesian first democratically-elected president, Abdurrahman Wahid, has been buried in his birth place of Jombang in East Java on Thursday (December 31). Often referred to by his nickname, Gus Dur, Wahid passed away in a hospital in Jakarta last night (December 30) aged 69 from complications linked to kidney and respiratory illness.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has declared a week of national mourning for a leader he described as one of the country’s greatest figures. “All of Indonesian people today are mourning for the death of Abdurrahman Wahid. We have lost one of the best sons of the nation, a respected statesman,” President Susilo said in his speech.

President Susilo told a press conference that he would be the inspector of the ceremony in the funeral, and the Chairman of Indonesian People Assembly Council Taufik Kiemas would lead the convoy of the shifting of the body from Jakarta to East Java.