Vaudine England – The celebration was traditional, but Abdurrahman Wahid's 60th birthday party at the Cipanas presidential palace was not, perhaps, as reflective as it should have been.
His life to date suggests he is only now at the beginning of a self-styled mission to transform his fractious country into a tolerant, successful society. His critics see Mr Wahid's life as indicative of dynastic ambition and chaotic management style. His reply to threats to unseat him is: "Let them try."
Mr Wahid's story begins two generations ago in 1926 when his grandfather, Hasyim Ashari, founded the now 30-million-strong Nahdlatul Ulama (Revival of Religious Scholars, or NU). This grouping of the Muslim masses, taught at traditional pesantren boarding schools, holds to a brand of conservative consensus-building in which democracy means unquestioning loyalty to local men of integrity.
Mr Wahid's father, Wahid Hasyim, Sukarno's religion minister, also chaired the NU, giving the young Mr Wahid the advantages of education in Baghdad, Cairo and the United States. Although in receipt of many awards and honorary degrees since, the young man failed to complete his formal studies in Muslim law.
He developed instead a penchant for politics, and a passion for soccer, Janis Joplin and the Dalai Lama, among other things. He is fluent in Javanese, Arabic, Dutch and English and renowned for his sense of humour.
By 1959, after completing middle school economics in Jogjakarta, Mr Wahid was back at the Tegal Rejo pesantren in Magelang, and then spent time at the Tambak Bellas pesantren in Jombang. Along the way he married the feminist and Muslim scholar Shinta Nuriyah, and had four daughters.
In 1984, Mr Wahid was elected chairman of the NU, a feat repeated three times since, despite opposition to his idiosyncratic ways both from within the NU and from then-president Suharto. Despite NU's traditional values, Mr Wahid is also a member of the Shimon Peres Peace Institute in Israel.
In 1990, with Suharto at the peak of his powers, Mr Wahid established the Forum Demokrasi, or Fordem, comprising leading intellectuals and reformists. The aim was to build momentum towards a peaceful political transition away from the military-backed and repressive New Order of Suharto.
Mr Wahid's chosen role was as conciliator and manipulator of people and perception. It does not always work. The joke now is that Fordem stands for "democracy, For Them".
His Byzantine ways finally produced his dramatic election win last October, with masterful last-minute alliance-building. Since then, his elite roots have shown through in what critics call his arrogance and attraction to a version of feudal or one-man democracy.