Be Alert to State Safety

KOMPAS/FERGANATA INDRA RIATMOKO

Two men install the national emblem, the Garuda Pancasila, on the entrance gate to Urutsewu village on Wednesday (31/7/2019) in Ampel district, Boyolali regency, Central Java.

The independent nation of Indonesia will turn 75 next year. It will be the end of the third generation of the political cycle of government. Ibn Khaldun believed that the state would become vulnerable every three generations to disasters that could threaten the country’s survival.

According to him, unity is in danger of dissolving at such junctures. The elite live luxuriously in a hostile oligarchical network, uprooted from the mandate born of the people’s suffering. No longer believing in the elite, the people search through various means to find a new framework of solidarity (ashabiyyah) as a counter-culture and support for hope. Social conflict can erupt at several junctions.

In this context, President Joko Widodo\'s call to strengthen the internalization and implementation of Pancasila is relevant. Loss of direction is the biggest threat to the survival of this country.

The country\'s political journey should be guided by ideas, extracting their wisdoms and grounding them. However, politics has thus far been led by oligarchs, taking their wisdoms and giving them ground. Without its ideology, a nation loses its framework of shared unity and its guiding star for action.

Each action is taken on the basis of practical interests. Mutual trust has disappeared; the elite compete in betraying each other and their country. Oaths and faith are abused. Goodness and depth are shunned; ugliness and superficiality are celebrated.

KOMPAS/HARIS FIRDAUS

A total of 1,211 men, women and children from 37 choral groups sing en masse at the National Oration and Aubade Pancasila, held at Gadjah Mada University (UGM) on Wednesday (14/8/2019) in Sleman regency, Yogyakarta.

Pancasila is frequently referred to, but more as lip service in speech that only reaches the throat. If we really want to make Pancasila the state ideology, we need honesty to realize that the core of the problem lies with state administrators.

The mainstream behavior of the political elite does not align with the moral imperatives of the Constitution. The fourth point in the Preamble to the 1945 Constitution emphasizes: "The state is founded on the Belief in God, on just and civilized humanity. Therefore, the Constitution must contain substance that obliges the government and other state administrators to maintain a noble and humanitarian character to uphold the noble, moral ideals of the people."

The media is used only as a means of confirmation once someone has already become entangled in the network.

It is undeniable that radicalism has been growing stronger in society. However, this must be seen as an effect, not a cause. Three societal groups are at risk of radicalism: youth, women and the elderly. It has something to do with the value of time. The three groups are relatively less active, so have more time on their hands. When government officials are unable to provide space for positive activity in their leisure time and militant groups actively approach them to involve them in their activities and networks, then this is where radicalism begins. Don\'t put too much trust in the power of social media as a means of countering radicalization. The main means of radical/terror networking is not social media, but family and friends. The media is used only as a means of confirmation once someone has already become entangled in the network.

Therefore, the key is social engineering. The state must be able to develop a policy and governance framework on the use of time by opening a variety of spaces for self-actualization.

KOMPAS/WAWAN H PRABOWO

President Joko Widodo addresses the members of the Indonesia Onward Cabinet on Tuesday (3/12/2019) during the Presidential Lecture on Internalizing and Grounding Pancasila at the State Palace in Central Jakarta. The President called on all ministers and officials to instill the values of Pancasila through various media platforms, especially among the younger generation.

Educated, urban people who aspire to high social mobility have also become fertile ground for the temptations of ideologization. If their expectations for social mobility are threatened by narrowing job and business opportunities, they will become hostile towards other groups that they view as the culprits. The pull of identity politics grows stronger.

In other words, disseminating Pancasila is more than just campaigning creatively through social media. We need to update the framework of values, governance and welfare so as to prevent our citizens from being dragged down by other ideological streams that could undermine the nation’s sustainability.

In terms off managing values, the main agent is community (educational, religious, occupational, residential, media, traditional and cultural communities, mass organizations and political organizations). Community leaders must not be dragged down into the struggles and fights of practical politics to neglect their duty to protect our values.

KOMPAS/WAWAN H PRABOWO

Speaking in her capacity as the steering committee chair of the Pancasila Ideology Development Board (BPIP), Megawati Soekarnoputri (background, at podium) addresses members of the Indonesia Onward Cabinet during the Presidential Lecture on Internalizing and Grounding Pancasila on Tuesday (3/12/2019) at the State Palace in Central Jakarta. Megawati said that the efforts to instill and strengthen Pancasila values at the ministerial level were a continuation of the BPIP’s programs.

In terms of governance, the main agent is the state apparatus. There is no need for state officials to be preoccupied with preaching morality to the people so that they forget to improve their management of culture, governance and the economy.

In terms of prosperity, the main agent is the business world. The business world must be able to provide value-added to the wealth of resources in this country through knowledge and technology towards a knowledge economy. Don\'t just expand the coffers by neglecting public virtue and social welfare. Large businesses must maintaining ugahari (humility) by not eliminating the opportunities for small and medium economies.

NUT

Yudi Latif

Based on the division of roles and the spirit of silih asih, asah and asuh (love, honing and guidance), we must work together to sustain the country.

Yudi Latif, Director, Pancasila School