news feature

Like the opening scene in Hollywood's famous musical The sound of music , miles and miles of eternally green hills beckon as you enter this quaint village in southern Thailand, situated 90km from the Malaysian-Thai border. The sky is a liquid blue littered with fluffy white clouds. On most days, here is a picture of perfect peace and tranquility.

But last Sunday, the scenario was a little different. By 8am, Ban Chulaporn Pattana had become alive with the chatter and laughter of little children.

About 200 people gathered at the dewan (public hall) that morning the men looking smart and handsome in their baju Melayu and songkok , and the women dainty in their colourful tudung (headscarves) and pretty baju kurung .

An hour later, the village Tok Imam (religious teacher) was leading a procession around the village. Carrying white flowing banners with the inscription Contohilah Rasullulah (Follow the footsteps of the Prophet), the group chanted prayers in honour of Prophet Muhammad.

The scene may very well be a Muslim gathering in PAS-led Kelantan or Terengganu.

But it's not.

In Ban Chulaporn or Friendship Village, former members of the now defunct Communist Party of Malaya joined hands with other believers of the Muslim faith and celebrated Maulud Nabi or Prophet Muhammad's birthday.

"Islam is very important to us," said the village head, Dome Binza, 45, when greeting the villagers.

Song to the Prophet

Later, a group of young Muslim girls all donned in the tudung and school uniform belted a song to the Prophet, called You are the sun in my sky ( Kau adalah matahari di langit )". The celebration culminated in a big sumptuous meal for the 200-odd participants.

Aided by the Thai government, the former communist camp which housed CPM's Regiment 10 or the Malayan People's Army after independence, had been converted into an economically self-sustainable village, whose main activities are breeding fish and harvesting tropical fruits to sell in nearby kampung.

Since the tripartite peace agreement between Malaysia, Thailand and CPM in 1989, ending 40 years of armed struggle, the Thai government has kept its part of the deal which is to ensure that these ex-soldiers who gave their lives for the Malayan Independence lead decent lives according to their religious beliefs.

The Darul Aman mosque was completed in 1998, followed by a madrasah (religious school), thanks to funds from a host of well-wishers Staban Vicha Chulaporn (500,000 baht), ex-CPM leaders Abdullah CD, Suriani Abdullah, Abu Samah Kasim (100,000 baht), village folk (114,000 baht) and others (9,300 baht).

The Maulud Nabi event is celebrated annually. It's a merry affair where old friends get together, renew their religious vows, feast on sumptuous meals and catch up with each other.

Religious ritual

"The leadership gave 7,000 baht for food and drinks. This is part of our yearly religious ritual," said Suriani, 78, a former CPM propaganda chief who is married to Abdullah.

Apart from these obligatory annual rituals, those who can afford it are also encouraged to go on their pilgrimage to Mecca. Suriani, Abdullah and Abu Samah went to the holy land in March 1999.

Yet popular belief, fueled by the British colonial leaders, the Alliance and later the Barisan Nasional government's propaganda, had it that CPM was a "godless" party.

Karl Marx, the Father of Communism, had also called religion the "opium of the people" which fails to fix a wound but merely helps one forget the pain and suffering.

So do such revelations of religious piety then mean that the former CPM members now prefer to seek solace and comfort in religion after years of suffering in the jungles?

CPM leaders, however, had long ago refuted the "godless party" allegation. In its national programme adopted in June 1981, CPM stressed the need to respect Islam and the religions of other nationalities.

"Promote the spirit of patriotism among Muslims, support the just struggle of the Muslims, respect freedom of religious belief, protect mosques, temples, churches and other places of worship, encourage believers of different religions to live in harmony, oppose the use of religion to sow seeds of discord among the various nationalities".

That was their message then. And now.

Muslim activists

Even way before 1981, at the Inter Asian Conference in New Delhi, India in 1947, Abdullah had been invited to attend a World Association of Islam conference by Egyptian delegates.

At the conference, which discussed the problems of the world's Islamic movement and the fight against colonialism, Abdullah was appointed the Malayan commissioner to organise Muslim activists in his country.

"After the conference, I met a Pakistani lawyer in Singapore who was willing to support the Islamic movement in terms of money and office space but we were unable to organise it in time as the British had by then declared emergency the following year (in 1948)," said Abdullah.

Not long after, the CPM military leader who established Rejimen 10, said he was invited to an assembly in Gunung Semanggol, Taiping by Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya (PKMM) leader Dr Burhanuddin al-Helmy.

The historic occasion was to witness the launching of a Muslim radical organisation, Hizbul Muslimim , which was later banned by the Malaysian government after Merdeka .

"We gave fiery speeches. I called for the unity of various races in Malaya to struggle for independence based on the principles of nationalism, socialism and freedom of religion," said Abdullah.

"It is from this inspiration and the experience in New Delhi that I later set up Paperi or Malayan Islamic Brotherhood, a party based on the development and struggle of Muslim students in several Islamic educational institutions in 1965," he added.

Early PAS leaders

Gunung Semanggol was a centre for progressive Muslim education led by Hisbul's leader Ustaz Abu Bakar al Bakir a religious teacher and a nationalist. The centre produced many progressive Muslim political leaders who went on to set up PAS in 1954.

Of course, there were episodes when the British tried to fan the fires of hatred by using Islam, said Abdullah.

"They (British) sent their staff from the National Muslim Affairs Department to Temerloh (Pahang) to attack Rejimen 10 using the Islamic angle," he said.

"But our friends underground including the imam counter-attacked these people and exposed them for what they are British stooges. Finally, these false religious leaders were isolated and they were forced to leave Temerloh," he added.

Echoing Abdullah's multi-religious, multi-racial and multi-cultural stance is Shukor Ismail, 62, an ex-soldier who now resides in Chulaporn with his two wives.

Shukor said that he carried out the same religious rituals, even when he lived in the jungle.

"My destiny is with the people. Even now I play my role as an imam tending to people who are sick, dying or in trouble. All this is in line with my communist ideology to serve the people," said Shukor, who is also responsible for the village's welfare body.

Siti Mariam Idris, 75, who hails from Temerloh, insisted that her Marxist knowledge was not a stumbling block for her to practise her religion.

"We are free to profess whatever religion. We allow others to do their own thing as long as we respect each other," she said.

"There is nothing in our ideology that says we cannot pray. We are Muslims even from before and we do things the Muslim way," added the lady, who is affectionately known to her comrades as Mak Chik Atom.