The latest figure, like Haji Misbach, was shocking and worrying in the 1920s, especially in West Sumatra. But, then, the prominent student of the ulama in West Sumatra, Haji Rasul, who had been a teacher, one of the leaders of the Padang Panjang Thawalib boarding school, and the pioneer of various Islamic schools in Batu Sangkar and Bukit Tinggi, openly proclaimed themselves as communists.
Such a phenomenon occurs not only in Indonesia. Gamal Abdul Nasser (Egypt), Muammar Gadhafi (Libya), and Saddam Hussein (Iraq), just to mention a few examples, are figures who succeeded in marrying Islam with Marxism. Likewise, it is said that some contemporary Islamic thinkers in Iran, such as Ali Shariati and the young people of Mojahedin-I Khalq, were deeply influenced by Marxism. Even the leaders of the Pudeh party, a loyal supporter of Khomaeni in staging an Iranian revolution, were influential in their Marxism.
In Latin America, Catholics have been successfully married to Marxism-Communism. The most widely embraced and highly influential religion in all of Latin America then gained a new enthusiasm in seeing Catholicism which led to the formulation of “Liberation Theology”. A theology that can bang on the cold of Catholics throughout the world and is very influential on Muslim thought among Muslims in many countries. In some ways, that’s what Mao did in China. Confucianism’s establishment resulted in freezing and nonsense, symbolized by the sleeping of the giant dragon. And Mao, the tiny red dragon, could swallow a giant sleeping dragon.
Priori and lust take certainty; whatever the reason, it is indeed not profitable. In this context, perhaps Mohammad Hatta’s suggestion is important to mention here. “I advise my nation to be open-minded to the teachings of Marx and Engels because my people often get a lame picture; Marx is often described as a mental destroyer, fanatical politician, destroyer of religion and state”. And at another time, Hatta also said: “I accept the teachings of historical materialism as a theory, not as a dogma”. A statement which turned out to be in sync with Karl Marx’s desires when he emphasized, “I am not a Marxist” to the Marxist-mania who swallowed up Marx’s mind like a dead doctrine. And Marx himself finally chose “Return to the British Museum” as his final strategic step.
Here the problem is not with Marxism-Communism itself, but with fanaticism and extremism. Lenin and Mao held Marxism at a fixed price, clearly different from Karl Marx, who did not want to be Marxist. The choice of revolution as the only way to change the situation and justify all means to achieve the goals swung by both Lenin and Mao did not occur in Karl Marx and his followers such as Hatta, Sukarno, Nasser, Samaoen, Datuk Batuah, and Haji Misbach.
But extreme fanaticism is not only the monopoly of Marxism-Communism. It can be based on whatever is absolute: religion, politics, economics, race, and ethnicity. Religionists and politicians can appear fierce in the face of understanding or other people who are seen as incompatible with and deviate from what they believe is the truth. We still remember how they swept out cafes, bars, and karaoke, how they put up the opposition and silenced different voices. Rhoma Irama, with the beads in her hand, can look scary when facing Inul, a village singer who doesn’t know anything but wants to survive. Kill each other between Dayak and Madura some time ago, forget the other causes first, we may return to this extreme fanaticism.
With his parody above, Ong wants to say that Communism is now nothing more than a fairy tale, nostalgia, and a part of the past. The haunting of Communism in Indonesia, besides being very political, also shows that we are behind the times. Communism in Peking and Moscow, which was very influential, has become dim, and even some analysts have confirmed that they have died precisely in their own “factory” country.