A cleric with political bent

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.