Wednesday, October 20, 1999 Published at 11:27 GMT 12:27 UK
Profile: Abdurrahman Wahid
The election of the influential Muslim cleric came as a shock to many after Megawati Sukarnoputri's PDI-P party had emerged as the winner of Indonesia's elections in June.
Educated in Indonesia, Egypt, Iraq and Canada, the frail 59-year-old has long had a reputation for religious tolerance and moderate politics.
Wahid heads Indonesia's largest Muslim organisation, the Nahdlatul Ulama, or NU, which draws its support of at least 30 million members from Muslims in the rural areas of Java, Indonesia's main island.
But that position as a moral leader was transformed when he and his supporters formed the National Awakening Party, PKB, following the dramatic fall of President Suharto.
Opposition to Islamisation
While NU is a conservative religious organization, Wahid has consistently maintained that faith is a personal matter.
In the unrest surrounding the fall of Suharto, some politicians made increasingly vocal calls for Islam to have an institutionalised role in the state.
"If the new parties want Islam to be a moral or educational force in politics, that's ok", he recently said, "but if they want to tinker with the laws of this country, then we must resist that".
His stance has brought him criticism from Islamic circles but earned him the respect of many non-Muslims throughout Indonesia, including the vast democracy's Christians and ethnic Chinese who he described as vital for the national economy.
Perhaps more significantly, he has taken office after having forged links with the nation's highly influential military elite through his joint work with the head of the armed forces General Wiranto to ease ethnic tensions.
As the election drew closer, he told the Wall Street Journal: "If my party gains power, we will calm Indonesia."
Ties with Megawati
During the campaign, he, Megawati and Amien Rais, Wahid's rival Muslim leader, brought their parties together in the name of safeguarding the reform and democracy process.
But the joint front did not last, and Wahid later argued that a female president would offend conservative Muslims.
Their friendship soured further as Wahid came to regard Megawati as arrogant and unable to work with other politicians as they sought to form a new government.
Economically, Wahid pledged during campaigning to implement reforms which the International Monetary Fund says are vital for the battered economy of 17,000 islands.
Wahid's most controversial moves in recent years have all been linked to the Suharto clan. In 1997, he campaigned with the former president's daughter during parliamentary elections.
More recently, his conciliatory gestures towards the deposed President Suharto have angered those who supported "reformasi".
Some of his own NU members regarded his attempts to involve the former president in a national reconciliation dialogue as unhelpful towards the reformist camp when the opposition had been trying to pressure President Habibie to properly investigate Suharto era.
Despite this, his appeal within NU is undiminished, and many Indonesians backed the PKB because he appeared the champion against the Islamist camp.