By Tay Tian Yan

I have a senior who is a university lecturer. He’s an outstanding chap in his dealings with people and his profound knowledge. Chatting with him is an utter pleasure.

But there’s something I can’t quite agree with him. Neither can he convince me.

The country he admires most is Cuba, and the person he worships most is Fidel Castro. His eyes spark with excitement on any mention of Cuba and the island’s iconic revolutionary.

He believes that Cuba is the most equal country on earth, a perfect society closest to the most idealistic aspirations of the human race. And Fidel Castro was a romantic politician of great vision and conscience.

To me, Castro was politically an autocrat, having ruled the island state for nearly half a century before passing the baton to his younger brother Raúl, and economically a big flop who turned the Pearl of the Caribbean into a worthless rock.

My senior traveled to Cuba several years ago for his “pilgrimage” and I thought his fantasies would be killed as soon as he saw the real Cuba with his own eyes.

Not true. His belief was strengthened upon his return from Havana.

He said Cuba has the best medical services anywhere and the public do not need to come out with a single cent to visit the doctor. University students also do not need to pay their tuition fees as the government has taken care of all this.

Income disparity is non-existent and everyone is treated much the same. No one needs to pay income tax, and everything has been provided by the government.

Although I have yet to visit Cuba, I told my senior, Castro wanted to create a socialist paradise and dumped the whole nation’s resources into healthcare, education and subsidies.

As a consequence, the people have become indolent, the society wanting in productivity and the economy stagnant.

The result? The society is indeed fair and equal, without any wealth gap because everyone is equally poor, drawing the same US$25 (RM112) monthly incomes. No one is willing to put in more effort as they are all entitled to a melange of subsidies, which alone have nearly bankrupted the country, leaving not much for development.

So, is Cuba a paradise on earth or a massive slum?

It seems that my senior and I will never strike an accord on this.

But I have to admit that Cuba is way more resilient than other communist regimes, including its two big brothers: the now dead Soviet Union and the completely overhauled China.

As one of the stalwarts of the communist world, Castro no doubt had firmer beliefs than many other communist leaders, with a keener conscience and a lesser dose of violence.

All because of his persistence, this Caribbean island state has become one of the two remaining countries to still practice hardcore communism, the other being Kim Jong-Un’s North Korea which is struggling to hold on to power through oppression and isolation.

But the thing is, communism is a stranger to the realistic modern world. It has failed to build an idealistic abode on earth. Everyone is waiting to be spoon-fed and few are willing to put in a little more effort than others. A man of vision and conscience that he was, Castro should have seen the continued decline of his motherland.

His recalcitrance, as some scholars have put it, has turned Cuba into an impoverished Utopia.

He claimed, “The ideas of Cuban Communists will remain as proof that on this planet, if one works with fervour and dignity, one can produce the material and cultural goods that human beings need.”

But the Cubans no longer buy his doctrine, and his brother Raúl has introduced capitalism into the island, liberalised the economy, befriended America and taken steps to wean the island from the obsolete communist ideology.

That’s no longer his concern anyway. He can now travel to the other world with loaded dignity to report to Karl Marx, the Father of Communism, that he never abandoned his belief.

And then he will hug his idol, with both men sobbing in agony.

Tay Tian Yan writes for Sin Chew Daily.

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