Abdurrahman Wahid, the 4th President of the Republic of Indonesia, was born in a prominent family, and represented Indonesia’s modern and moderate views. Equipped with religious education and modern thinking, he became the Chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), and founded the National Awakening Party (PKB). Following Dictator Suharto’s resignation, he was elected President by the Assembly. As the head of a coalition cabinet, he faced a lot of political constraints. During his 20-month tenure, he tried to reduce the dominance of the army in political and social matters. Two ministries, the Ministry of Information and the Ministry of Welfare, were methodically dismantled because of their poor records. A firm believer in pluralism, he reached out to ethnic Chinese, and participated in peace talks with separatists in East Timor and Aceh. Internationally, he became respected for his promotion of peace and understanding. Despite being the leader of the world’s most populous Muslim country, he had great respect for Israel, and visited the country 6 times. His reforms did not go down well with the army and some vested interests in his cabinet and this slowly and gradually fanned the growing unrest. Following his impeachment, he continued to serve the country as an opposition leader.