Pancasila Emergency

Kompas/AGUS SUSANTO

A mobile fruit seller passes in front of a diversity mural under the Rawa Panjang flyover, Bekasi City, West Java, on Friday (7/8/2020). Diversity, tolerance and respect for differences continue to be voiced to foster togetherness in building the nation.

Over the past few days, the minds and energy of the nation\'s children have been drained in facing the nation\'s various problems.

The energy has not yet recovered in the war against Covid-19. The commotion related to Pancasila ideology is increasingly draining the energy of the nation\'s children. Pancasila as the state ideology has again become a hot issue because the efforts of certain institutions to reinterpret Pancasila have resulted in disagreements, differences and commotion. The disinformation and miscommunication of the social-digital media age has made matters worse. Meanwhile, the civil society movement against the interpretation of Pancasila has solidified.

Also read: Our Diversity

In the ITB Professors Forum Seminar on 28 August 2020 on Pancasila and national problems, with the speakers Gen. TNI (ret.) Try Sutrisno, Prof. Jimly Asshiddiqie, and myself, there was an agreement that Pancasila has been threatened since the start of the Reform Era. The amendment to the 1945 Constitution -- as a mandate for reform -- which was not well guarded and without in-depth study -- was the root of the nation\'s divisions and upheaval. Socio-political life -- which is based on the flawed 1945 Constitution -- from day to day is getting louder, increasingly violent, frightening, cruel, vulgar, criminal, and corrupt, far from the values of Pancasila. The values of divinity, humanity, unity, wisdom, deliberation, and justice as the legacy of Pancasila are now systematically stripped of the nation-state system, replaced by the values of anti-God materialism, greed, indifference, individualism, and egoism. Ironically, all these values shape the character of the nation\'s children, minus the critical spirit. Indeed, so many components of the nation take economic, social and political advantages and enjoy the "comfort zone" in the a-Pancasila life model. Material gaps and the satisfaction of the desire for power have threatened the existence of Pancasila in the future as the state ideology -- this is the "Pancasila emergency".

Unicity in plurality

The commotion has intensified the enmity, hostility and conflict among the nation\'s children. It encourages separation, division and disintegration of the nation. If there is no systematic effort to reduce conflict and prevent division, not only the national unity and integrity will be threatened, but also the existence of the Indonesian nation itself. Thoughts and movements to knit again togetherness, brotherhood, unity and national unity are very important tasks in the future. Unity and integrity are the noble heritage of Pancasila which must not only be maintained, but also revitalized.

Also read: 75 Years of Indonesia

The founding fathers have inherited the concepts of "unity" and "oneness" as an inseparable conceptual package. The concept of "unity" refers to the "joint presence" of various ethnic groups, races, cultures, customs, and beliefs that are different and plural, but are contained in one national forum. On the other hand, the concept of "unity" refers to the reality that results from unity, namely a nation that is one, single, whole, and integrated. When the unity refers to the "container", the integrity refers to the "contents of the container". The motto of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika represents unity and integrity in an integrated manner.

KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI

A number of residents participated in the Bhinneka Tunggal Ika parade which took place from the Arjuna Wijaya Horse Statue in Jalan Medan Merdeka Selatan, Jakarta to the Tugu Tani, Menteng, on Saturday (19/11/2016). This peaceful action campaigned for the importance of caring for Pancasila, the 1945 Constitution, the Republic of Indonesia, and Indonesia\'s diversity.

Regarding unity and integrity, there are two ways of assembling various elements with two different characteristics. First, unity, namely the principle of gathering to produce a single synthesis from the various, whether in the form of essence, principle, or identity. Second, "unification" or unicity: assembling in one container or frame, but allowing different ones to be present in their respective identities, without the need to be united by a single essence, principle or nature. Different elements make up a unicity, without the need for a single identity (Nancy 2000: 185). Bhinneka Tunggal Ika is a clever combination of the concepts of unity and unicity.

Also read: Fundamental Transformation

When we talk about the nation as a "container", we are talking about unity, namely the condition of the nation\'s unity which is shown through the symbols of unity: symbols, flags, and other insignias. When we talk about the nation as "the contents of the container", we are talking about unicity, namely a diverse set of elements, which cannot be expressed through any single concept. Therefore, when we talk about national identity, we refer to the "peaks of regional cultures". National identity is not expressed in a single modality, but the modalities vary. The diversity of modality itself becomes the identity -- this is unicity (Deleuze, 1994: 36).

Ironically, the appreciation for plurality is now massively eroded from the architecture of national life, which is imbued with a spirit of hostility and a spirit of exclusivity.

Unicity demands respect for the plurality of ethnicities, races, religions and cultures (Bhinneka) in the spirit of inclusiveness, as a guarantee of the maintenance of the national unity (Tunggal Ika). Ironically, the appreciation for plurality is now massively eroded from the architecture of national life, which is imbued with a spirit of hostility and a spirit of exclusivity. The amendment to the 1945 Constitution -- as a manifestation of legal reform -- which is expected to be the foundation in upholding the nation\'s architecture on the foundation of Pancasila, even becomes a prima causa of divisions and commotion of the nation\'s children, especially articles related to the election of president and vice president.

The fifth amendment

In the 1945 amendment of the 1945 Constitution there are at least three paragraphs in one article (Article 6A, Paragraph 1-3), which are the source of the erosion of Pancasila values. Paragraph 1 -- which regulates the direct election of the president and vice president by the people -- vulgarly denies the principle of deliberation/representation, as the mandate of Pancasila and the Preamble of the 1945 Constitution. Paragraph 2 which regulates the authority of political parties in proposing the pairs of presidential and vice presidential candidates, on the one hand has castrated the functions and roles of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), on the other hand inflated the functions and roles of parties in determining the fate of the nation-state. Meanwhile, Paragraph 3 which regulates the presidential threshold has become the gateway for the rampant oligarchic power.

The three paragraphs also bear the "sin" of the flourishing values of "individualism" in political culture, which over time imprint the vulgar behavior and movements of political actors. The political world is now familiar with terms that castrate the spirit of deliberation: fighting, political machines, successful teams, electability, pooling, image building, friends/foes, win/lose. All of that strips away the terms which are based on the core values of Pancasila, namely "communality": divinity, unity, kinship, deliberation, congress, brotherhood, moral values of right/wrong. Now, what is celebrated is victory, even if it is with the wrong way, and those who do the right way often lose -- this is the Pancasila emergency.

KOMPAS/WAWAN H PRABOWO

Residents cross a mural with the theme of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika on Jalan Tentara Pelajar, Gelora, Tanah Abang, South Jakarta, Monday (12/6). This work is one of the community\'s efforts to remind others to continue to respect and provide space for differences and remain free people.

Apart from that, in the jouney of the nation-state, there are also five components of the nation that play an important role in the birth of the nation-state, but which are not given adequate functions and roles

in the life of the state: religious people; intellectuals; Indonesian Military (TNI) and reserve troops; kings, sultans and customary holders; and professionals. Kings and sultans -- who have sacrificed to surrender their lands and territories to build the nation-state -- have until now been denied a significant function and role in building the nation-state.

Likewise, the intellectuals, who are marginalized and whose voices have never been heard, are trapped by the tendency of "anti-intellectualism" in the life of the state. Caring for the nation\'s architecture in the future -- which is in danger of being torn apart in deeper divisions -- cannot be through repairing the surface structure because what is damaged is the ideological foundation. Partially polishing the life of the nation and state at the level of daily socio-political relations will not repair the damage to the architecture of the nation-state if the damaged foundation is not repaired. The damage to the ideological foundation is the result of the denial of the values of Pancasila in the Amendment to the 1945 Constitution, and the infiltration of various foreign values into the ideological structure of the nation-state. The breakdown of the ideological foundation causes an unsteady condition of the structural structure of the nation-state, which is vulnerable to division and disintegration.

KOMPAS/MOHAMMAD HILMI FAIQ

Yasraf Amir Piliang

Therefore, the ITB Professors Forum Seminar recommended five steps for the improvement of the nation in the future. First, restoring the principle of deliberation as the core value of Pancasila by removing the direct election system. Second, restore the function and role of the MPR as the highest state institution to uphold the principles of deliberation and representation. Third, rationalizing the functions and authorities of political parties in order to build the principle of check and balance. Fourth, giving proportional functions and roles to the clergy; intellectuals; TNI and reserve troops; kings, sultans and customary holders; and professionals in the state life. Fifth, to make the fifth Amendment of the 1945 Constitution to conform to the spirit and noble values of Pancasila. Only through this step will this nation be free from the Pancasila emergency.

Yasraf A Piliang, Social and Cultural Thinker of the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB)