Charismatic cleric Cholil laid to rest
Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post/Rembang
Thousands of people accompanied the body of charismatic Muslim cleric Cholil Bisri to the cemetery in Rembang regency, Central Java, on Tuesday.
Cholil passed away at about 8:40 p.m. on Monday at his home in Leteh village. His family said the cleric, who was 62, died of liver cancer.
The deputy speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly from the National Awakening Party (PKB) was buried at Kabongan Kidul cemetery, some 1.5 kilometers from his house.
Attending the funeral were former president Abdurrahman Wahid and several influential Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) clerics, including Sahal Machfud and Idris Marzuki, who also leads the Lirboyo Islamic boarding school.
House of Representatives deputy speaker Muhaimin Iskandar was also present. President Megawati Soekarnoputri and presidential candidate Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono sent messages of condolences to Cholil's family.
Cholil, who was born in Rembang on Aug. 12, 1942, is survived with his wife Muhsinah and eight children.
He was buried beside his father Bisri Mustofa, who founded the Roudlatut Thalibin Islamic boarding school. Cholil took over as head of the school after his father died in 1997.
Cholil was treated at Kariadi Hospital in Semarang in May, before being moved to Medistra Hospital in Jakarta. Last Friday, he was flown home by helicopter from MMC Hospital in Jakarta, where he was treated for a week.
"He wanted to go home to Rembang (last Friday). He looked happy seeing his students," said Cholil's younger brother Mustofa Bisri, a noted Muslim cleric and poet.
Cholil's eldest son, Yahya C. Staquf, a presidential spokesman during Abdurrahman's administration, said his farther died peacefully.
His family had wanted to take Cholil to Beijing for treatment, but he refused and insisted on returning to Rembang.
Cholil studied at the Krapyak Islamic boarding school in Yogyakarta before moving to Mecca in 1961, where he lived for two years.
He returned to Yogyakarta and became active in the Islamic youth movement. He cofounded the Indonesian Muslim Student Movement at the State Institute of Islamic Studies in Yogyakarta.
Cholil was elected deputy chairman of the NU Party in Rembang in 1971 and served as a local councillor.
Two years later, he became the first chairman of the Rembang branch of the United Development Party (PPP) after then president Soeharto banned all political parties other than the PPP, Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).
He rose in prominence within the NU and helped found the PKB in 1999. Two years later, he represented the party in the Assembly as a deputy speaker.
Cholil enjoyed playing badminton and wrote poems dealing with sociopolitical issues. The late Muslim cleric also formed a band at one time.