The horror of cult

The horror of cult

Last Thursday this nation heard a terrible thing. Something
that appeared three decades ago in its political lexicon, only to
be soon forgotten.

When Minister of Religious Affairs Tarmizi Taher told the
press that President Soeharto did not want to be made into a cult
figure, he did not explain why the head of state had discussed
the matter with him.

The statement makes people look to society to see whether
there are any leanings there toward such a dangerous attitude.

Did the President suddenly remember that, as he said, cult
figures were blatantly against Islamic teaching?

Or, despite the absence of such twisted loyalty in society,
did he feel the need to warn us, to prevent the nation from
plunging into chaos after him?

He might have remembered that Indonesia plunged into political
and economic turmoil after making a cult figure out of founding
president Sukarno.

Or is it because he did not need such a thing even when he was
young, and he needs it less now that he is older? Or was it a
reminder to the members of the People's Consultative Assembly who
will reelect him for another term, to be objective in their
decision making?

In the past, seasoned politicians have made hilarious
statements voicing their support for him, or uttering so-called
political prayers for his good health. Many may have understood
this to be the first steps toward making him a cult figure.

That Soeharto believes -- as quoted by Minister Tarmizi --
that he can lead the nation because the people trust him, and not
for any other reason, shows that he does not need expressions of
support.

Soeharto's unwillingness to be made into a cult figure sounds
more spiritual when he rejects the notion on the grounds that it
is against religious teachings and because "it will encourage a
person to sin".

The President has been at the country's helm for three decades
and the whole world recognizes his economic development success.

History has taught us that a long term in office and economic
success are important in making a leader into a cult figure -- a
situation that shows that the leader concerned has failed to
educate his people.

The leader has also failed to prevent the people around him
from making use of his popularity for their own ends. They
engineer this kind of situation by abusing public ignorance. So
it is a kind of a structural stupidity.

But the trend is not the monopoly of developing countries.
Germany under Hitler is one of the best examples. It needs an
extraordinarily great leader to win the fanatical support of an
educated mass. He should at the same time be a political genius,
and a monster.

But once the people wake up to their nightmarish blunder they
will turn the tables on the cult figure and the end will be
disastrous. The world still remembers Nikita Khrushchev's 1956
denunciation of Stalin, who was both a cult figure and a monster
to his people.

In North Korea people thought the late Kim Il-sung was a
demigod. And mainland Chinese, who practiced atheism, carried
copies of Mao Zedong's red book everywhere they went, with a
fervor surpassing even religious followers with their holy books.

Sukarno had to see himself stripped of his many titles from
the revolution. And he saw Sukarnapura -- the capital of Irian
Jaya which had been named after him -- renamed Jayapura.

All the above people enjoyed the worship of their people, and
could not resist sampling the forbidden fruits of despotism
which, finally, ends in calamity.

Or if they claimed to believe in God, they let themselves be
pushed into the wrong side of religion.

Soeharto's conclusion about the relationship between cult
figures and religious teachings as quoted above is accurate.

However, we need to hear an explanation of Soeharto's
statement in the near future so the nation is not left in
confusion.