Charismatic cleric Cholil laid to rest
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.