Agency to Instill Established Pancasila Values
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — President Joko Widodo will establish a working unit to instill Pancasila values. Presidential Regulation No. 54/2017, which regulates the working unit,was signed by the President on May 19, 2017 and will be promulgated on May 23.
Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto confirmed that the Presidential Regulation (Perpres) on the working unit to instill Pancasila values (UKP-PIP) was signed by the President. The establishment of the agency will be realized soon.
“The instilling of Pancasila values must be completed soon,” Wiranto said at the House of Representatives in Senayan, Jakarta on Tuesday (30/5), after meeting with House Speaker Setya Novanto and People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) speaker Zulkifli Hasan.
Perpres No. 54/2017, a copy of which was obtained by Kompas, consists of 9 chapters and 41 articles. Article 3 stipulates that the working unit is tasked to help the President in outlining the policy on instilling Pancasila values and on coordination, synchronization and management of the policy thoroughly and sustainably.
In order to carry out the program, the working unit, as a non-structural institution under and responsible to the President, consists of steering and executive members.
The steering members consist of national leaders, religion and community leaders, former military/police officials, former civil servants and academicians. Meanwhile, the executive members consist of a leader and three deputies.
The President will announce the working unit and the personnel in the near future.
Presidential spokesman Johan Budi said the establishment of the working unit did not mean reviving the workshop on Pancasila Implementation Guidance (P4) like in the New Order era. The working unit will focus on assessing Pancasila values through more modern methods.
Zulkifli Hasan said MPR was ready to work with the presidential working unit.
Collective memory
University of Indonesia political psychology professor Hamdi Muluk said it needed social engineering in accordance with the present era to maintain the nation’s collective memory of Pancasila values. In this context, the presence of the working unit is urgent.
During the discussion “Implementation of Pancasila Values Amid Political Identity” at Pancasila University yesterday, Hamdi said during the New Order, even though the attitude of state apparatus and society was far from Pancasila values, at least at that time there was proper knowledge about Pancasila.
“Today, the [people’s]attitude does not follow Pancasila values and they have no knowledge either. In fact, psychologists believe the beginning of an attitude isknowledge,” Hamdi said. He said Pancasila had gradually disappeared from the nation’s collective memory.
Indonesian Academy of Sciences member Yudi Latif, who was also a speaker in the discussion, said it needed collective works to make Pancasila mainstream in knowledge or ethos.
One optimal way, he said, was through beauty, such as art, music, film or literature. Citing an example, he said the United States uses films to build the myth of national advancement. “Do not be like the past [New Order] that used coercion. It must be through aesthetical methods. This is not a new thing for Indonesia. In the past, religions were spread through peaceful ways, such as gamelan and shadow puppet,” Yudi said.
Pancasila University patron and foundation head Siswono Yudo Husodo said Pancasila was a political decision born from an elegant process that demonstrated the statesmanship of the founding fathers and the most ideal form for a pluralistic Indonesia.
The alarming conditions recently, such as growing social segregation and identity politics, he said, was not because of the troubled Pancasila. It was because the formal and informal education in Indonesia had not been able to lead to a society with high morality. “We need to improve inter-ethnic interaction by prioritizing four locus: residential area, school, work and biological mix,” he said.
Higher education
Indonesian Rectors Forum (FRI) chairman Suyatno said in Jakarta yesterday that universities must have diverse intellectuals that are professional and non-partisan. He said he hoped mandatory subjects such as Pancasila, religion and Indonesian language could strengthen a sense of nationalism among students.
The rector forum called on all national elements to maintain and prioritize tolerance in all aspects. “We call on the government of Indonesia to stand above all groups and to enforce the law against intolerant groups that promote acts of intolerance and radicalism,” he said.
Attempts to replace Pancasila, Suyatno said, must be thwarted and brought to legal process. Meanwhile, the diversity of Indonesia must be preserved through mutual respect with an appreciation of differences in ethnicity, religion, culture and groups.
Separately, Research, Technology and Higher Education Minister Mohammad Nasir said he rejected the presence on campuses of mass organizations that did not include Pancasila and the 1945 Constitutionas part of their principles. “Universities must not give space for dissenting ideologies on campus,” Nasir said.
Education and Culture Minister Muhadjir Effendy called on schools to strengthen character building among students. Schools are obliged to perform national anthem “Indonesia Raya” and national hymns to grow and strengthen a sense of nationalism among students.
(INA/NTA/REK/GAL/AGE/ IVV/APA/JOS/MHD/DIA/HAR)