Soon after enjoying the sacred occasion of Idul Fitri, our inner spiritual clarity immediately encountered the pollution of political competition. Like the dew that glistens upon withered leaves, our return from Idul Fitri this time has emerged into a situation that risks our "sanctity".
By
YUDI LATIF
·5 minutes read
Soon after enjoying the sacred occasion of Idul Fitri, our inner spiritual clarity immediately encountered the pollution of political competition. Like the dew that glistens upon withered leaves, our return from Idul Fitri this time has emerged into a situation that risks our "sanctity". Individuals may be reborn like drops of dew, but the country they live in is a contaminated space.
The public sphere is contaminated because people fight over individual interests while ignoring the common good. Many people long to return to the basic nature of humanity by denying their very nature. Differences become the foundations of dispute. In fact, our differences form the basis of our lives: religions will never be as one, races and tribes will never be as one, even societal classes will never be as one.
The conflicts of interest that lie at the root of the problems in public life can be overcome only when we are able to align our differing interests to the same vision. However, a similar vision is difficult to create in a society that is characterized by an atmosphere of mutual distrust and acute social inequality. For the sake of restoring a shared vision, it is necessary to return to our natural selves and the nature of our country by reinforcing the foundation of individual and public morals, to radiate the desire for unity and sharing.
Most individual morals are extracted from religious morals. The main mission of religion is to improve human morals. Prophet Muhammad said: "Indeed, I have been tasked with perfecting human morals." The main pillar of a perfect state is morals. When preparing for independence, the nation’s founders asked amongst themselves, "What do we want?"
It was Bung Hatta who presented an answer to this question: "I want to build a country in which all are happy." They then declared: "There is no happiness without freedom; no independence without self-government; no self-government without a constitution; and finally, there is no constitution without morals."
The founders of the nation were not without their flaws, but they possessed strong moral capital. Amid the pressures of the economic depression and the repressive colonial regime in the 1930s, Bung Hatta stressed: "True, there are many people who change direction because of life, but leaders who are pure stand farthest from the temptations of the devil." Then he added: "Determination and firmness in faith is conditio sine qua non (the ultimate requirement) of a leader. If the leader does not have strong morals, he will not be able to fulfill his obligations."
This moral force is also what shines forth in the sense of public accountability. In the deliberations over the draft constitution at the Agency for the Preparatory Work for Indonesian Independence (BPUPKI), Muhammad Yamin pointed out, "I only call for attention because what we are talking about is the people’s rights. If this is not made clear in the basic law, then the constitution contains an oversight, a constitutional error; this is a grave sin against the people who await the republic."
With this individual moral force could we establish a republic with strong collective morals: Pancasila as the foundation for an inclusive and resilient state; the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, the most modern constitution of the age for a united state that transcends individual and group ideals; Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity) as the state doctrine and praxis of multiculturalism.
Where did the republic\'s moral strength come from? From its ability to capture the fire of religion, not the ashes; of solemn engagement with the flow and surge of the independence movement, not by taking a mere shortcut to popularity; from the sense of deep appreciation and empathy for self-suffering and the suffering of others, not through a mere project to build one’s reputation; from a clear and broad understanding of human nature and life, not a shallow understanding from a brief visit.
After 73 years of Indonesian independence, individual and group morals are unable to meet: the state institutions have become a meeting point for problematic individuals and problematic group morals. Many people that adhere to religions deny their faith, because their passion for worship is not accompanied by a passion for sharing wealth. Houses of worship grow in number, followed by an influx of religious activists on the political scene, but the life of the state is marred by widespread corruption, hatred and lies. At the same time, state policy does not reflect national unity and equality, but is instead dictated by individual and group interests. Democracy does not empower the people, but empowers the oligarchy that nurtures corruption and inhibits meritocracy.
We can again emerge the victors (Minal \'aidin wal faizin) when we can restore the purity of self and the land by living the vision of the nation\'s founding fathers: building a state that bears the full responsibility of a powerful vision with strong moral integrity that transcends narrow interests.
Going “back to nature” for the self and the country will strengthen our inner spirit to lift the nation\'s spirit. Bung Karno pointed out: "No nation can be great if its mind is not composed of the strongest aspects of faith. If we Indonesians want to be eternal, powerful, number one, our souls must always be one that continually seeks mikraj -- upward movement – so that our culture may rise, so that our state may rise. A nation that does not have adreng, the verve to ascend upward, such a nation will by itself decline gradually to disappear from the surface of the Earth (sirna ilang kertaning earth)."