A cleric with political bent

Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

To many people politics is a dirty world, but not to Kiai Haj Muhammad Cholil Bisri who believes that it is commendable for anyone as it can bolster one's esteem.

"If you want to be respected by the people, you should commit to teaching. If you want to be respected by officials, you should emerge yourself in politics," he said, quoting his late father KH Bisri Mustofa -- who was one of the charismatic leaders of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).

The 60-year-old respected Muslim spiritual leader who is the elder brother of noted Islamic poet and cleric Mustofa Bisri, started his political career in 1970 in the now-defunct NU Party.

His name came to prominence when he was picked up by leaders of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) as a deputy speaker of the nation's highest law-making body representing the National Awakening Party (PKB). He is slated to be sworn in on June 5.

His appointment culminated after an exhaustive battle in the rift-torn PKB. The Assembly leaders had previously rejected his nomination by PKB, a party founded by former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, pending a settlement of an internal dispute within the party.

The fourth largest faction in the House of Representatives, has split into two camps -- one led by former foreign affairs minister Alwi Shihab, who is an aide to Gus Dur, and another by the current Minister of Defense Matori Abdul Djalil, a former Gus Dur confidante.

The split was triggered by the sacking of Matori as PKB chairman after he defied his party's order to challenge Gus Dur's ouster as president last year.

Cholil said Matori had attempted to persuade him to switch allegiance to the later's PKB faction by nominating him as a deputy MPR speaker, the post Matori had served in before President Megawati Soekarnoputri appointed him as defense minister.

But Cholil turned down the offer, stayed with Gus Dur's PKB and accepted the party's nomination for the same post in the Assembly.

Cholil's position as an MPR deputy speaker is expected to swiftly resolve the PKB's leadership rift, especially with Megawati backing his candidacy.

Cholil's resourcefulness has a solid track record. Days before Soeharto's downfall in May 1998, Cholil along with other senior ulemas (Muslim clerics) floated the then-unpopular idea of the NU establishing its own party.

Gus Dur, who then served as chairman of the nation's largest Muslim organization, opposed the idea arguing that he had to stick to NU's decree or khittah (decree to stay out of politics) made in 1984.

But Cholil pushed ahead by setting up an 11-member committee to broker the establishment of PKB with Matori acting as chief of its assistance team.

Only after pressure intensified from within the NU to form a political party did Gus Dur eventually bow to Cholil's proposal. The PKB was set up on July 23, 1998 as an inclusive political party.

When the Axis Force, a coalition of Muslim-based parties, nominated Gus Dur as a presidential candidate in 1999, Cholil was one of the NU ulemas who vigorously rejected the move.

"Actually, I did not want Gus Dur to be president. He should be better off by becoming Bapak Bangsa (the nation's father) or a moral fighter," he said.

"Despite his physical handicap (limited eyesight), Gus Dur was not suitable for the job. But he and others insisted (to become a president), so we had to support him then," he added.

But interestingly, Cholil was also one of those who insisted on retaining Gus Dur in power when his opponents were attempting to oust him in July 2001.

"We told Gus Dur not to surrender his power as long as there were no constitutional reasons. It is in line with our Prophet Muhammad's hadith (prophetical words and deeds) that once you wear a shirt, you must not take it off without any reason," Cholil argued. "Leave God to strip the power, not us."

Today, Cholil is ardently advising Gus Dur to restore his relationship with Matori, but so far his attempt has yet to bear fruit.

Long before co-founding the PKB, Cholil served as a senior politician with the United Development Party (PPP) from 1973 to 1998. The party is currently led by Vice President Hamzah Haz.

Cholil also had a hand in the establishment of PPP, a merger of the then NU and other Islamic oriented parties, in 1973.

His test as a talented politician was apparent when he survived the attacks from the remnants of activists from the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in 1970. He is said to equip himself with supernatural powers to deal with these attacks.

Apart from serving as a PKB legislator in the House of Representatives in Jakarta, Cholil is also in charge of running his father's Roudlatul Tholibin Islamic boarding school in Rembang, Central Java.

The husband of Muchsinah, 55, and the father of five sons and three daughters, flies home at least once a week.