Strengthening Pancasila
Illustration: Handining
Actually, there is no need for us to be troubled by the plurality of the Indonesian nation. After all, to borrow Albert Einstein\'s expression, God is not "playing dice" in the design of the creation of this country as a multicultural country.
Diversity does not always end up with a conflict as long as the right management system is available. There is also no need for us to be obsessed with the homogenization of nationality because uniformity is not a guarantee of peace and prosperity. In reality, the facts in the contemporary world show there is only a handful of countries that are composed of a single ethno-cultural group. Generally, modern states are polyethnic, constituted with various tribes. Even countries with various nationalities are present in various parts of the world. The latter are more precisely called "nations-states" rather than "nation-states".
Unifying the diversity of multicultural nationalities will not occur by itself without deliberate effort. Indonesia, with all its religious, race, ethnic, party and social fragments, cannot be unified unless it has a common denominator. In an effort to search for a meeting point, we need a conception of state ideals and a common consensus concerning the fundamental needs for the continuity, wholeness and glory of the nation.
Above all the greatness, width and plurality of the nation, Indonesia has to formulate a basic conception of a state that can lay all the elements of the nation on a static foundation, as well as provide dynamic guidance. The founders of the nation tried to answer the challenge by giving birth to the concept of a united state of mutual help, not an individual state as in the conception of liberalism-capitalism or the state of a class like in communism. In Soekarno\'s expression, "The Indonesian state is not a single country for one person, not a state for one class even though it consists of the rich. However, we are establishing a state of \'all for all\', \'one for all, all for one\'." The united state, which overcomes individual and class concept, protects the whole Indonesian nation and the entire Indonesian sphere based on unity, by bringing justice to all Indonesians.
Inclusive ideology
With the spirit of kinship, the basic philosophy of the state is formulated by summarizing the five main principles as the meeting point that unifies the diversity of the nation, the stepping point that underlies the ideology and norms of the state and the point of objective that gives the nation-state orientation. The five main principles are known as Pancasila. With the basic spirit of the five principle of Pancasila, the state and nation of Indonesia has a concept of statehood-nationality that is visionary and resilient.
The principles in Pancasila are able to anticipate and reconcile any teaching of secular radicalism and religious radicalism, the teaching of homogenous atavisitic tribalism nationality, chauvinist nationalism and triumphalist globalism, autocratic rule and market-individualist democracy, the economy of etatism with predatory capitalism.
Pancasila can be said to be a comprehensive ideology on social inclusion that wants to include diversity of religions and beliefs, human origins, diversity of ethnicities and customs, political paths and social class in public life. From the perspective of the Pancasila paradigm, the increasing tendency of the social exclusion that manifests in various forms of social violence based on religious fundamentalism, tribalism, thuggery and social class sentiment reflects the weak process of institutionalization and implementation of Pancasila values.
The principles in Pancasila are able to anticipate and reconcile any teaching of secular radicalism and religious radicalism, the teaching of homogenous atavisitic tribalism nationality, chauvinist nationalism and triumphalist globalism, autocratic rule and market-individualist democracy, the economy of etatism with predatory capitalism.
According to the first principle, the social exclusion takes place because of the tendency of the teaching, appreciation and religious practice that no longer reflects the spirit of "cultivated praise of God", "which is apologetic and tolerant" as underlined by Bung Karno. Many religious people who believe in God do not develop divinity. Religions that ceases to worship the exteriorality of the formalities of worship, without the ability to dig up the interiority of spiritual values and divine morality, encourages a barren, dry and violent expression of diversity, which leads to the destruction inside and threats outside.
According to the second principle, the increasing tendency of social exclusion externally reflects the decadence of values of justice and civilization in the universal humanitarian relation of globalization era and internally reflects the weakness of the understanding, appreciation and practice of "human rights" issues.
Globalization divides the world into the winners and the losers, and cultivates inequality both internationally and in nation-states. Aside from causing social deprivation for the losers, globalization has also led to pluralism of the world of life which causes differentiation and fragmentation in the world view. The cracks in the world view are exacerbated by communicative distortion in the public space caused by the conquest of the rationality of the virtues of living together by instrumental rationality in the capitalism system world. The communicative distortions cause social alienation, which weakens the consultative relationship with the wisdom of common life.
According to the third principle, the strengthening of social exclusion occurs because a long period of political segregation has led Indonesia to become a plural society that is locked into a "plural-monoculturalism" situation; in a sense, it consists of ethno-cultural diversity and people live in their respective cultural cocoons without the will for sharing. Political correctness requires the concept of a nation that expresses unity in diversity and diversity in unity by transforming the "plural-monoculturalism" situation to "multiculturalism" through various policies that encourage inter-cultural encounters and crossings.
According to the fourth principle, the principles of a Pancasila democracy have to be carried out with people\'s ideals for the good of the people, consensus and ideals of wisdom. The people\'s ideals respect the voice of the people in politics. The ideals of wisdom exudes the will of a united state that can overcome individual and group ideals, as a reflection of the spirit of kinship from the plurality of the Indonesian nation by recognizing "equality in differences".
The ideals of wisdom require populism to be followed by the Indonesian nation, a populism that does not seek the most votes only, but a populism that is led by the power of rationality, consensual wisdom and commitment to justice. Sociological research suggests that a democratic tendency that ignores deliberative processes cannot only create policies that discriminate against minorities, but can also create groups that are not accommodated in the formal political arena because they are eliminated from the general elections and are forced into violent expression.
According to the fifth principle, the source of unity and commitment of nationality from the multicultural nation is a shared concept of justice. Borrowing from John Rawls: “Even though a nation society is divided and pluralistic...public agreements on social justice and political issues support the secular fraternity and ensures association ties." Regions marked by many pockets of poverty and social inequality are fertile fields for the seeds of violence. A widespread sense of injustice is also not a vehicle conducive to the appreciation of the idea of citizenship unity.
Implementation of Pancasila
In its development, the citizens\' confidence in the relevance and actualization of Pancasila can increase and decrease in line with the flow of influences and dynamics of changes internally and externally. Decreasing confidence can happen if there is a wide gap between the ideal of Pancasila and the reality of life. For a long time, the three ideological layers (confidence, knowledge and actions) of Pancasila have not been actualized effectively. Even though the confidence in the accuracy of Pancasila as the normative foundation of the life of the nation and the state was so strongly echoed during the old order and the New Order, in fact Pancasila as the basic norms of the state was not always consistently followed by products of legislation and public policies.
In contrast to the general assumption that views Pancasila simply as a theory, in reality, Pancasila has not yet been developed into a set of theories comprehensively , which can color the concepts of knowledge. In fact, the process of objectivity from Pancasila as a belief becomes Pancasila as a science is very important because science is a bridge between ideologies and policy reality. What is more worrying happens in the operative framework of Pancasila. Dimensions of action within the state administration are still far from the demand or normative belief and knowledge of Pancasila. Pancasila has not been implemented to the operational policy level and actions of the organizers and citizens.
The weakness in realizing the imperative beliefs, knowledge and ideological actions of Pancasila makes the sanctity of Pancasila unable to be grounded in the reality of life. Pancasila is taught in less attractive materials and methodology of delivery. Pancasila is reduced to mere knowledge, less able to be internalized as an establishment of life.
Even though the confidence in the accuracy of Pancasila as the normative foundation of the life of the nation and the state was so strongly echoed during the old order and the New Order, in fact Pancasila as the basic norms of the state was not always consistently followed by products of legislation and public policies.
The publicity of Pancasila is run vertically: the state takes the initiative, the state interprets, the state teaches; the state does not empower the community in the effort of fulfilling and acculturating Pancasila. It makes Pancasila a closed ideology.
More sadly, when we increasingly need Pancasila as a basis of social inclusion, the existence of Pancasila itself has been neglected for so long. The traumatic experience of Pancasila instrumentation in the past has made organizational and citizen confidence in Pancasila decline. Over the last few decades, Pancasila ceased to be a compulsory subject in most schools and there is even anxiety among the state organizers to articulate Pancasila in the public sphere. Such a situation allows the moral supplies for the learners to be filled only by the moral of religious particularities, which tended to be filled by militant groups and makes the learners less exposed to and cultured in public morals.
Even if there is still an ideological and mental development program implemented in various ministries and state institutions, generally it is superficial and compartmentalist, without any clear direction, system, structure, or coordination. The learning materials of Pancasila in education and publicity of national insight are not prepared well, both in terms of content and attractiveness.
It is not surprising, though, that various surveys show the tendency of deterioration of the national resilience in the ideological field. The National Resilience Index prepared by Labkurtannas of Lemhannas indicated a weakening ideological resilience and politics in the last seven years (2010 to 2016). The ideology endurance index (including the variables of tolerance, equality in law, equality in social life and national unity), fell from a score of 2.31 (2010) to 2.06 (2016).
The same picture is shown by the National Value Survey by the Central Statistic Agency (BPS) in 2015 (the first survey in Indonesia). Out of 100 Indonesian people, 18 did not know the title of the Indonesian national anthem, 53 percent did not memorize the entire lyrics of the national anthem, 24 did not know the principles of Pancasila, 42 percent are accustomed to using pirated goods, 55 percent rarely and even never take part in community services.
The determination of June 1 as Pancasila Day should not stop at the ceremony, without the weight of substance. The commemoration of Pancasila\'s birthday has to provided momentum for mainstreaming Pancasila virtues at all levels: layers of belief (myth), knowledge (logos) and acts of struggle (ethos). It needs to refresh the understanding, appreciation and actualization of Pancasila values to counter the outbreak of various threats of extremism and social exclusion. By reinforcing the values of cultural deities, humanity and social justice-oriented democracy, Indonesia is expected to face the challenge of social fragmentation with a spirit of unity and inclusive justice.
YUDI LATIF
A member of Indonesian Science Academy
