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.

Papua Oh Papua

The Western part of the Island of Papua became a part of the Republic of Indonesia after the United Nations Temporary Executive Authority (UNTEA) transferred administration of the territory in 1963 (here).

In 1969 the territory became a legitimate part of the Republic of Indonesia, and became the province of West Irian, later changed to Irian Jaya in 1973.

With a total land area of 421,981 Km2, the province is the largest province in Indonesia, but it only has a population of 2,9 Million. The province has very rich natural resources a.o Gold and Copper mines, also natural oil and gas, however until now the income of the people is one of the lowest in Indonesia.

The said Copper and Gold mines are run by PT Freeport Indonesia, owned by the multinational company Freeport-McMoRan, since the late '60s are the largest in the world. 

These mining activities have cause continuous troubles with local people, and the mines' Tailing have severely impacted the natural environment.


Before May 1998, the authoritarian regime of the late former President Soeharto has managed to fully control the province, silenced it's people's protests, and eliminate separatist movement. by the Free Papua Movement (OPM).
 
After that year, liberal democracy came to Indonesia, and things started to change, people in the province expressed their protests on various matters such as demand fair share of PT Freeport's revenue, injustice, corruption, poverty etc.

In compliance with the demands of the people, 2002, the name of the province was changed to its original name i.e. Papua.

In 2003, the central government declared the western most of the province, around the Bird's Head peninsula, a separate province called West Papua. 

The people of both provinces of Papua has staged protests against the PT Freeport, including strike by its 8,000 workers following several shooting incidents that killed of some the workers.

On Monday 1 August, an internal conflict between two rival candidates of the Gerindra Party for the election of the Head of the Puncak Jaya Regency has caused the death of 21 people.

On Wednesday 3 August, an Army helicopter was shot down by the OPM. Tempo quoted the Army Chief of Staff General Pramono Edhie Wibowo as saying that the helicopter was shot while it was evacuating the body of a soldier who was shot to death the day before at Puncak Jaya. There were no more casualty and the helicopter was able to fly again.

I felt that the social unrest and violence that follow in the provinces of Papua and West Papua were sparked by the same causes like in other parts of Indonesia, i.e. Socio-Political-Economic-Judicial Injustice, Poverty, Corruptions, Greedy Politicians, etc.

I therefore hope that the central government, law enforcement agencies and politicians in Jakarta and in both provinces would do their very best to eliminate all those causes, or at least minimize them, so that their people would live far more happier

Facebook, Twitter and Democracy

A few months ago, the authoritarian governments in Tunisia and Egypt were overthrown by democratic people's movements in those countries.

The people in those countries, used social media like Facebook and Twitter to organize, coordinate and document their movement. Similar method has also been used now by the pro-democracy movements in Libya and Yemen.

The above successful use of Facebook and Twitter by pro-democracy movement has inspired Indonesian Minister of Information and Communication Tifatul Sembiring to control the use of Facebook and Twitter.

Carolina Rumuat of Global Voice Online quoted the Minister as saying that social media like Twitter and Facebook must be strictly controlled since they can be used to destabilize the government. He added that countries like Tunisia and Libya suffered from uprisings because their governments failed to control social media.

After being criticized in the media, the Minister changed his mind and made a statement through his Twitter saying that reporters have misquoted him. He also wrote on his Facebook page that his statement about social media control in front of public elementary school teachers was about the importance of adult supervision on children's internet browsing experience, language use decency and anti-pornography browsing.

I am very glad that Minister finally realized that Facebook and Twitter are friends of democracy, therefore should not be controlled.

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.

Are we paying too much for Freedom?

With a population of 240 million living in 17,000 island, with 6 major religions and different cultures, Indonesia is one the most plural country in the world.

Most of the people are Moslems living side by side with Protestants, Catholics, Hindu, Buddha and Confucian.

Since independence on 17 August 1945 until May 1998, Indonesia was governed by authoritarian regimes, where everything, including freedom of expression, should be based on social-political-economical stability and order. People in general and the news media in particular must speak, write and/or do things which are according to the regimes' rules of the games. Otherwise there would be severe consequences.

As a result, social, inter religion, political life seemed to be normal, and the economy grown quite stable.

Then came the so called "Reformasi" after the late President Soeharto stepped down from 32 years of authoritarian rule on 21 May 1998. The Constitution was amended several times, all members of parliament must be elected directly by the people - no more 20% seats for hand picked military representatives - the economic system changed from socialist planned system into a free fight liberal system, people are free to create political parties and organizations, the news media are free to write, talk, show almost everything, etc. etc.

As a result, religious hardliners who were banned in other countries were allowed to return, thereby causing so many problems like years of violence between Moslems and non Moslems in Ambon-Maluku and Poso-Sulawesi. Although the inter-faith violence have ended in both regions, many smaller scale problems happened in other regions.  Beside that I should also mention the series of suicide bombings in Bali and Jakarta carried out by people who were "brainwashed" by hard line religious fanatics that have killed so many innocent people.

As I write this post, there are two disputes reported by the media, first one is Moslems violent rejection on the construction of Christian churches and religious activities, and the second one is Moslems rejection on the existence of a Moslem Sect i.e. Ahmadiyah. 

Beside that, there are people who died because of other causes, like the Speaker of North Sumatera Parliament who died of heart attack after an angry mob ransacked a plenary meeting. There was also human right activist Munir who was poisoned to death by who knows who? Violence in Papua caused by various reasons including Freeport, regional election campaigns, etc. etc.

Moreover, the concept of free fight economy has made the owners of financial capital to prosper from imports of products in stead of producing locally, causing the closing down of factories : textile and garment, floor and roof tiles, furniture, steel products. Even fruits and vegetables are imported.

With the China-Asean Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) that started on 1 January 2010, that created the Free Trade Area between China and 10 ASEAN countries, things are getting more worst every day.

If no serious efforts is made to protect local industry, including postponement of the CAFTA for 3-5 years, high unemployment rate can be expected to increase in the years to come. As a logical consequence, crime rates would inevitably increase.

But now that the water is already flowing under the bridge, there is no need to regret for what we have chosen. The most important thing right now is that the leaders (Executive, Legislative and Judiciary) should have strong and consistent will to adopt and implement all the laws based on the concept of Rule of Law i.e. Supremacy of Law, Equality Before the Law, Presumption of Innocence, Respect of Human Rights. For that purpose, we need strong, smart, honest, fair and firm leaders who are willing to do his/her very best efforts only for the very best interest of the people of Indonesia.

If we can have all that, we can expect that freedom will bring much better things, and I am sure that Indonesia will prosper continously in the future.

Reformasi

On 21 May 1998, devastating economic crisis has forced President Soeharto to step down from power.

After that, Indonesia has been experiencing the process of transformation from an authoritarian rule to a liberal democracy. This process is popularly known in Bahasa Indonesia as " Reformasi ".

And today, 12 years after " Reformasi ", I wonder whether the whole process has been beneficial for the Indonesian people, or merely for a bunch of politicians.

In this regards, I quoted a relevant article in Kompas (below).

12 Years after Soeharto, Indonesians Fear for 'Reformasi'

Jumat, 21 Mei 2010 | 12:01 WIB

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Twelve years after the dawning of Indonesia’s ’Reformasi’ movement with the resignation of military strongman Soeharto, there are fears the country of 240 million people is on a slipperly slope backwards. No one disputes how far Indonesia has come: the economy is booming and last year’s peaceful elections brought political stability by returning Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to the presidency for a second five-year term.

The massive street protests, bloody anti-Chinese riots  and economic ruin that marked the last days of  Soeharto's "New Order" regime are in the past, and Indonesia  is demanding a greater say in world affairs. But on the 12th anniversary of Suharto’s resignation Friday, all is not well with ’Reformasi’, the sweeping popular movement for democratic change that energised reform across the vast archipelago for more than a decade.

Some analysts fear the tide may be turning back in favour of Suharto-style cronyism and a political and business elite that has never, they say, relinquished power.

“There is not much difference between Soeharto’s time and now. It’s just that Soeharto’s cronies have been replaced by new cronies,” economist Martin Panggabean said.

Analysts express concern about persistent, widespread corruption, a lack of government transparency, a culture of impunity for human rights abuses and the increasing use of draconian libel laws to muzzle critics.

Such fears came to a head earlier this month with the shock resignation of finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, an independent economist who frequently clashed with reactionary forces within the ruling coalition.

Indrawati won international accolades for keeping Southeast Asia’s biggest economy growing throughout the global downturn while battling to clean up the graft-riddled tax and customs offices.

But her lonely campaign received little more than rhetorical support from Yudhoyono, and eventually her position became untenable in the face of constant attacks from the Golkar party, Soeharto’s largely unreformed political vehicle. Speaking to business leaders earlier this week, the outgoing minister compared the current situation to the crony-dictatorship of Soeharto, who died in hospital in January, 2008.

“We have learnt from the 30-year regime of president Soeharto, where relationships between personal and public interests were so mixed-up,” she said.  “We all knew — what occurred during the New Order era was like a disease. But at that time it was done behind closed doors. Now it’s more sophisticated and the skills of power enable the decision-making process to be co-opted.”

In what some observers interpreted as a parting shot at the ruling elite before she starts her new job as a World Bank director next month, she said the current system worked like a “cartel” or a “same-sex marriage”. “You can see for yourselves, government officials with business backgrounds, even though they say they have put aside all their businesses, everyone knows that their siblings, their children, who knows who else from their families, are still running the firms,” she said.

The comments were reported as a stab at Golkar party chief Aburizal Bakrie, seen as the architect of the campaign to remove Indrawati after she tried to bring his vast business empire under the rule of law.

Within days of her resignation, and after secret talks with Yudhoyono, Bakrie had been appointed to lead a new “secretariat” tasked with overseeing the ruling coalition.

Analysts said a key test for ’Reformasi’ will be whether an investigation launched by Indrawati into 210 million dollars in allegedly unpaid taxes by Bakrie-linked mining companies is brought to trial or swept under the carpet.