A cleric with political bent<\/p>\n
Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
To many people politics is a dirty world, but not to Kiai Haj
\nMuhammad Cholil Bisri who believes that it is commendable for
\nanyone as it can bolster one's esteem.<\/p>\n
\"If you want to be respected by the people, you should commit
\nto teaching. If you want to be respected by officials, you should
\nemerge yourself in politics,\" he said, quoting his late father KH
\nBisri Mustofa -- who was one of the charismatic leaders of
\nNahdlatul Ulama (NU).<\/p>\n
The 60-year-old respected Muslim spiritual leader who is the
\nelder brother of noted Islamic poet and cleric Mustofa Bisri,
\nstarted his political career in 1970 in the now-defunct NU Party.<\/p>\n
His name came to prominence when he was picked up by leaders
\nof the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) as a deputy speaker
\nof the nation's highest law-making body representing the National
\nAwakening Party (PKB). He is slated to be sworn in on June 5.<\/p>\n
His appointment culminated after an exhaustive battle in the
\nrift-torn PKB. The Assembly leaders had previously rejected his
\nnomination by PKB, a party founded by former president
\nAbdurrahman \"Gus Dur\" Wahid, pending a settlement of an internal
\ndispute within the party.<\/p>\n
The fourth largest faction in the House of Representatives,
\nhas split into two camps -- one led by former foreign affairs
\nminister Alwi Shihab, who is an aide to Gus Dur, and another by
\nthe current Minister of Defense Matori Abdul Djalil, a former Gus
\nDur confidante.<\/p>\n
The split was triggered by the sacking of Matori as PKB
\nchairman after he defied his party's order to challenge Gus Dur's
\nouster as president last year.<\/p>\n
Cholil said Matori had attempted to persuade him to switch
\nallegiance to the later's PKB faction by nominating him as a
\ndeputy MPR speaker, the post Matori had served in before
\nPresident Megawati Soekarnoputri appointed him as defense
\nminister.<\/p>\n
But Cholil turned down the offer, stayed with Gus Dur's PKB
\nand accepted the party's nomination for the same post in the
\nAssembly.<\/p>\n
Cholil's position as an MPR deputy speaker is expected to
\nswiftly resolve the PKB's leadership rift, especially with
\nMegawati backing his candidacy.<\/p>\n
Cholil's resourcefulness has a solid track record. Days before
\nSoeharto's downfall in May 1998, Cholil along with other senior
\nulemas (Muslim clerics) floated the then-unpopular idea of the NU
\nestablishing its own party.<\/p>\n
Gus Dur, who then served as chairman of the nation's largest
\nMuslim organization, opposed the idea arguing that he had to
\nstick to NU's decree or khittah (decree to stay out of politics)
\nmade in 1984.<\/p>\n
But Cholil pushed ahead by setting up an 11-member committee
\nto broker the establishment of PKB with Matori acting as chief of
\nits assistance team.<\/p>\n
Only after pressure intensified from within the NU to form a
\npolitical party did Gus Dur eventually bow to Cholil's proposal.
\nThe PKB was set up on July 23, 1998 as an inclusive political
\nparty.<\/p>\n
When the Axis Force, a coalition of Muslim-based parties,
\nnominated Gus Dur as a presidential candidate in 1999, Cholil was
\none of the NU ulemas who vigorously rejected the move.<\/p>\n
\"Actually, I did not want Gus Dur to be president. He should
\nbe better off by becoming Bapak Bangsa (the nation's father) or a
\nmoral fighter,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"Despite his physical handicap (limited eyesight), Gus Dur was
\nnot suitable for the job. But he and others insisted (to become a
\npresident), so we had to support him then,\" he added.<\/p>\n
But interestingly, Cholil was also one of those who insisted
\non retaining Gus Dur in power when his opponents were attempting
\nto oust him in July 2001.<\/p>\n
\"We told Gus Dur not to surrender his power as long as there
\nwere no constitutional reasons. It is in line with our Prophet
\nMuhammad's hadith (prophetical words and deeds) that once you
\nwear a shirt, you must not take it off without any reason,\"
\nCholil argued. \"Leave God to strip the power, not us.\"<\/p>\n
Today, Cholil is ardently advising Gus Dur to restore his
\nrelationship with Matori, but so far his attempt has yet to bear
\nfruit.<\/p>\n
Long before co-founding the PKB, Cholil served as a senior
\npolitician with the United Development Party (PPP) from 1973 to
\n1998. The party is currently led by Vice President Hamzah Haz.<\/p>\n
Cholil also had a hand in the establishment of PPP, a merger
\nof the then NU and other Islamic oriented parties, in 1973.<\/p>\n
His test as a talented politician was apparent when he
\nsurvived the attacks from the remnants of activists from the
\noutlawed Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in 1970. He is said to
\nequip himself with supernatural powers to deal with these
\nattacks.<\/p>\n
Apart from serving as a PKB legislator in the House of
\nRepresentatives in Jakarta, Cholil is also in charge of running
\nhis father's Roudlatul Tholibin Islamic boarding school in
\nRembang, Central Java.<\/p>\n
The husband of Muchsinah, 55, and the father of five sons and
\nthree daughters, flies home at least once a week.<\/p>",
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