U.S. Consulate General To Pay Tribute To President Gus Dur

Jakarta, Jan 21 (ANTARA) - The US Consulate General in Surabaya, East Java, will organise an event to pay tribute to Indonesia`s former President, Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur), and Martin Luther King. The event, `A Tribute to Martin Luther King Jr and Gus Dur: Pluralism, Diversity and Democracy Legacy`, will be held on January 22. Markus Wisnu Murti, Information Assistant at the US Consulate General in Surabaya, said the event will commemorate human rights activists in the US and Indonesia - Martin Luther King Jr from the US and Indonesia�s fourth President, Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur). "One of the speakers at the event is Scot Marciel, US Ambassador to Indonesia. President Gus Dur`s daughter, Alissa Wahid, and Emha Ainun Nadjib, a humanist, who is also Gus Dur`s close friend, will be speaking at the event too," he said. Murti added that the US Consulate General will also organise a photo exhibition from January 22 to February 23. Photos of Martin Luther King and Gus Dur will be displayed at the exhibition. "A number of photos of Martin Luther King and Gus Dur will be exhibited at the Consulate building in Jalan Citra Raya Niaga 2, Surabaya," he said. Former President Gus Dur was born in Jombang, East Java, on September 7, 1940. He passed away on December 30, 2009, in Jakarta. He was a Muslim political leader who became the fourth president of Indonesia from 1999 to 2001. He received the Mebal Valour award from Simon Wiesenthal Centre, a human rights agency based in Los Angeles, California, for fighting for the rights of minorities in Indonesia. Martin Luther King Jr was born in Atlanta, Georgia, US, on January 15, 1929. He passed away in Memphis, Tennessee, US, on April 4, 1968. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for fighting for the rights of Africans in the US.