Is Pancasila still Relevant?

 

On 1 June 1958, Indonesia's first President, Soekarno, delivered a speech saying that Pancasila i.e. Five Principles, is the ideology of the the Republic, since then the said date has been celebrated as the birth date of Pancasila.

Pancasila consists of the following idealistic principles :  1) Belief in One God;  2) Civilized Humanity; 3)  Indonesian Unity;  4) Representative Democracy;   5) Social Justice.

Before liberal democracy came to Indonesia on May 1998, the ruling governments of President Soekarno (1945-1966) and President Soeharto (1966-1998), have force the adoption and implementation of Pancasila in the sense that every people and organizations must adopt Pancasila as a single ideology, otherwise they would face legal consequences.

The introduction of liberal democracy after Soeharto stepped down from 32 years of authoritarian rule on May 1998 is like the opening of a Pandora Box that enabled all sorts of social disease to come to Indonesia.

Every people and organizations in Indonesia are free to adopt all kinds of ideologies they want, whether they are moderate, or extreme, fanatic, religious, tribal etc (except Communism).
As a result, the belief of the majority of the country's population i.e the Religion of Islam, became the ideology of many socio-political organizations.

The adoption of religious ideology by extreme and fanatic people has caused social conflicts in provinces of Maluku, and Central Sulawesi, also a series of suicide bombings of innocent local and foreigners, in Jakarta and Bali.

Moreover, indecisiveness and failure to enforce laws against repetitive violent actions by fanatic organizations like the FPI against Christians and Ahmadiyah, has made those organizations more stronger, and weaken the government.

In spite of the above mentioned facts, I believe that Pancasila is still relevant for a multi-racial, tribal, religion, country like Indonesia, provided that the Rule of Law is upheld, therefore the concepts of Supremacy of Law, Presumption of Innocence, and Equality before the Law is maintained.


Symbol :  Courtesy of Wikipedia.

Happy Birthday Pancasila

During a meeting of the Committee for the Preparation of Independence of Indonesia (BPUPKI).on 1 June 1945, the leader of independence movement Soekarno delivered a speech titled " The Birth of Pancasila ".

Soekarno proposed the state of Indonesia to adopt Pancasila as a political philosophy. Pancasila consists of two Sanskrit words i.e Panca: five, Sila: Principles, comprising of :
1)  Belief in One God
2)  A Just and Civilized Humanity
3)  Indonesian Unity
4)  Democracy
5)  Social Justice

During the authoritarian governments of former President Soekarno (1945-1966), and former President Soeharto (1966-1988) Pancasila was strictly adopted as a doctrine. Social, Political, Economical activities must solely be based on Pancasila.

After Soeharto stepped down on 21 May 1998, Indonesia became a liberal democratic country, and freedom of speech and human rights became very important factors in the country.

As a result, the government and law enforcement agencies tend to be very careful, sometimes hesitate in enforcing laws and regulations. This together with Poverty, Injustice and Corruption have made some people lost their faith on Pancasila and choose other ideology as basis for their activities. Some political parties and non government organizations choose religion as their sole ideology so as to get people's support and votes. Inter-faith conflicts broke in many regions.

The worst thing was that many of them became extremely fanatic that they were willing kill many people by exploding themselves in order to get what they want.

Considering that the five principles of Pancasila are suitable for Indonesia and not contradictory to religion, politics, cultures, etc. I hope that from now on, each and every one of us in Indonesia, would accept Pancasila as the country's main ideology.

For which purpose the government and its law enforcement agencies should enforce the laws and regulations based on the concepts of supremacy of law, presumption of innocence, equality before the law.

Source:
Wikipedia.

Is Soeharto really better than SBY?

A recent public opinion survey conducted by Indo Barometer shows that the late former President Soeharto is more popular than President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono (SBY).

The survey, conducted from 24 April until 4 May 2011 on 1,200 respondents in 33 provinces of Indonesia, shows that 36.5% choose Soeharto as the most favorite President of the country, 20.9 % choose SBY, 9.8% choose the late President Soekarno, 9.8% choose former President Megawati, 4.4% choose former President Habibie and 4.3% choose the late former President Abdurrachman Wahid. 

Beside that, the survey also show that 40.9% of the respondents prefer the condition during Soeharto's New Order regime, compared to only 22.8% who preferred the so called post 21 May 1998 Reformasi Era.

In reaction to that survey result, Presidential Palace spokesman questioned the reliability of the respondents, who are they, what are the parameters of the survey.

As a person who has experienced living during the Soeharto era, I felt that the above survey result is not accurate because it was only conducted on 1,200 respondents in 33 provinces, no details about the respondents like their ages, do they know that Soeharto was a ruthless authoritarian ruler, et cetera.

In my opinion, the survey should be carried out on at least 100 respondent per province (total 3,300), they should at least be 17 years old when Soeharto stepped down 13 years ago, their education level should be mentioned, they should be explained that Soeharto was a ruthless authoritarian ruler, while President SBY is a liberal democratic ruler.

Is Freedom a Blessing or a Curse ?

The Constitution of 1945 stipulated that the freedom of every Indonesian citizens is protected by the laws.

However, in 53 years after its independence on 17 August 1945, Indonesia was ruled by authoritarian regimes that used their powers merely for the interests of their family, friends and groups. Freedom was very limited, oppositions was crushed, the media was heavily censored. Any violation would be severely punished either legitimately or illegitimately, among others by shutting down the publisher/broadcaster and detaining the persons in charge.

In spite of the lack of freedom, between 1968 and 1998, Indonesians enjoyed economical, social, political and security conditions which were relatively stable.. The economy grew steadily, educations were affordable, no very serious religious, racial and political conflicts among the people was reported.

But unfortunately, the economy was heavily depended on foreign debts, investments, and exports of natural oil, gas, timbers, so when the international financial crisis broke in 1997, Indonesia was hit very badly, and forced to accept the emergency program directed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), including the liberalization of social, economic and political lives.

This fact and nationwide public protests against the 32-years authoritarian regime of President Suharto had forced him to step down from 32 years power on 21 May 1998, and asked Vice President Habibie to take over.

And liberal democracy came to Indonesia and the social, political, economical and security situation became unstable.

One year later, the first free general election was held and won by the anti-Suharto Indonesian Democratic Party in Struggle led by the daughter of former President Soekarno namely Megawati. Unfortunately, the People's Consultative Council (MPR) did not elected her as president, instead they elected the leader of the largest Islamic organization namely Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) on October 1999.

Gus Dur was a very liberal and highly respected human rights. He abolished racialist laws against minorities including Chinese citizens, recognized extreme-fanatic religious movements, etc. Muslim-Non Muslim bloody conflicts broke in the Island of Maluku and Sulawesi.

Gus Dur's policies were too controversial for other politicians, including his plan to disband the pro-Suharto Golkar Party, so on July 2001, the MPR ousted him and Megawati became President. Many violence broke, among others the suicide  bombing in Bali in 2002

 In 2004, General Susilo Bambang Yudoyono (SBY) won the first freely-held presidential election with a land slide majority of more than 60%. But his Democrat Party only minority seats in the House of Representatives so he must form coalition government with the Golkar Party several Moslem political parties. This weak political support has made SBY always hesitate in taking actions especially against violent organizations using religion as mask like the FPI that often carried out illegal sweepings and curfews on public places.

More suicide bombings exploded in Bali (2005) and Jakarta (2009), many inter-religion conflicts broke in some parts of the country.

In 2009, more than 60% of the people, including me, re-elected SBY once again, but considering that his Democrat Party on got around 25% of the seats in the House of Representatives, therefore SBY must once again rely on the support of his coalition partners i.e. the Golkar Party and Islamic based parties.

This is ironic, because our Constitution adopted the Presidential government-system, whereby the President hold supreme executive power, therefore should not be depended on the House of Representatives.

Today, almost two years I cast my votes for SBY and his Democrat Party, he is still like before. As a result, the majority of our people are still living in poverty, unemployment is growing, many injustices exist, reluctance to fight corruption, only few people can afford the very expensive higher education.
Moreover, violence organizations are seemingly becoming more stronger.

Considering the above, I felt that SBY and his Democrat party should stick to the promises that they have made during the last general election and presidential election i.e. govern the country based on the concept of pluralism, supremacy of law, equality before the law merely for the best interest of the Indonesian people and not just for certain individuals, groups and political parties. That way, people would not regret casting their votes for you in the elections. And the freedom that we have since 1998 would be a blessing, and not a curse, for us.

Well, that's my personal opinion about freedom, I shall be very glad to know about your opinion.

Pancasila

During a meeting of the committee for preparation of independence of Indonesia (BPUPKI) on 1 June 1945, leader of independence movement i.e. Soekarno introduced the Pancasila i.e. five principles consisting of: Belief in God, Humanity, Unity, Representative Democracy, Social Justice.

On 17 August 1945, independence was declared, Soekarno became president and Pancasila became the basis for the constitution and all laws and regulations in Indonesia.

Since then, Pancasila played a significant role in unifying 240 million Indonesian people living in more than 17,000 islands, consisting of many different religions, ethnics, languages, traditions.

Considering the above mentioned facts, 1 June has been celebrated as the date of birth of Pancasila.

I hope that in the future, interpretation and implementation of the principles of Pancasila would always be carried as a unison, and in line with the laws and regulations in Indonesia. That way, Indonesia will always be a unitary state.

11 March 1966

11 March, is a very important date for Indonesia, because on this date forty years ago the late President Soekarno handed over power to Minister of the Army Leutnant General Soeharto.

According to the official version during the Soeharto era that ended on 20 May 1998, Soekarno hand over power by signing a letter dated 11 March 1966 prepared by Soeharto's staff, giving the following instructions  to Soeharto :

1)  To act for and on behalf of President Soekarno in taking whatever necessary to ensure the security, peace and stability of the government and the revolution, and to ensure the safety and authority of Soekarno and his doctrine;
2)  To Coordinate implementation of this instruction with the other Commanders in the Armed Forces;
3)  To report everything related to the above mentioned authorities and responsibilities;

From that day, the above mentioned power transition letter was popularly names as Surat Perintah Sebelas Maret a.k.a SUPER SEMAR.

Considering that according to the 1945 Constitution, such transition of power can only be conducted by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), in 1967, a plenary session of a Temporary MPR (MPRS) was held to appoint Soeharto as Acting President, and then Permanent President on 11 March 1968.
For details, please click here and here.

The very strange thing was that that the original letter has seemingly vanished into the thin air, especially after Soeharto and the three Army Brigadier Generals who brought the letter to Soekarno in Bogor Palace at that time i.e. Muhammad Yusuf, Amir Mahmud and Basoeki Rahmat have all passed away.

Nevertheless, for the sake of Indonesia's historical truthness I hope that there will be an open investigation on what really happened to the original letter.

Image :  Courtesy of Detik.