PKB's Cholil Bisri to get MPR deputy speakership

Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Muslim cleric Cholil Bisri is expected to soon be appointed deputy speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) to represent former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid's National Awakening Party (PKB).

Most leaders of the nation's highest legislative body pledged support on Tuesday for the appointment of Cholil as deputy chairman to replace Matori Abdul Djalil, the current defense minister.

The endorsement of Cholil will likely end the bitter internal dispute between the fractured PKB over who was eligible to take on the MPR post.

The dispute prompted the MPR to leave the post vacant for several months after Matori was installed as defense minister in September last year.

The PKB split into two factions -- one led by Alwi Shihab and the other by Matori -- after Matori backed the ouster of Gus Dur last year in favor of Megawati Soekarnoputri for the presidency.

Matori claims his faction is the only legitimate PKB despite support from only four of its 51 legislators in the House.

As the conflict intensified, Alwi's PKB nominated Cholil as a deputy speaker to challenge the candidate of Matori's faction, Syarif Usman Yahya.

Tuesday's support for Cholil was expressed by former foreign minister Alwi Shihab's PKB leaders and MPR Speaker Amien Rais and his deputies -- Agus Widjojo, Ginandjar Kartasasmita, Yusuf Amir Faisal and Nazri Adlani -- during a closed-door meeting.

The other two deputies, Sutjipto of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-Perjuangan) and Muhammad Husni Thamrin of the United Development Party (PPP), failed to show up at the meeting held in the MPR building.

"MPR leaders have agreed to accept Pak Cholil Bisri as a deputy of the Assembly from the PKB faction," senior PKB legislator Taufikurrahman told The Jakarta Post.

Speaking after attending the meeting, he said Amien and his MPR deputies declared that Cholil was eligible for the post as he met the requirements outlined in the Assembly's guidelines.

Taufikurrahman claimed Sutjipto was not present at the meeting because she was sick. However, the latter showed up at a leadership forum of his PDI Perjuangan.

Husni Thamrin told the Post that he was ill, forcing him to stay at home. Asked whether his PPP faction agreed with Cholil's nomination, he said: "Yes it does".

Later on Tuesday, the Alwi Shihab-led PKB met House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung and his deputies, in which the legislature's leaders agreed to recognize Ali Masykur Musa as chairman of the PKB faction in the House to replace Taufikurrahman.

Matori's camp last week proposed Susono Yusuf as chairman of the PKB faction in the House. But, Susono refused his nomination.