KH Abdullah Faqih Passes Away

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Senior cleric KH Abdullah Faqih, who was the leader of the Langitan Islamic boarding school in Widang, Tuban, East Java, passed away at the age of 82 at around 6.30pm on Wednesday in his home in the school compound. "His demise is a great loss not only for Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) but also the Indonesian nation," NU's general chairman KH Said Aqil Siroj, said here on Wednesday. Said expressed deep condolences over the death of the senior cleric. "His activities in building NU and instill nationalism among his students have made him a respected cleric," he said. He called on all Moslems who could not come personally to pay respect to him to conduct special prayers for him. KH Abdullah Faqih is scheduled to be buried on Thursday. Khofifah Indar Parawansa, the chief of NU's women wing, said Indonesia had lost a strong spiritual figure. KH Fakih was known and heard of because of his nationalist ideas raised during the start of the country's reform movement. The late former president Abdurahman Wahid often used his statement as a reference for the reform movement especially when he set up the National Awakening Party (PKB) and decided to run for president. (*)