Fostering “Red and White”

The Red and White parade, which was recently held at the Hotel Indonesia (HI) traffic circle thanks to the initiative of the National Police chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo, will be recorded in the national history books as a patriotism-provoking milestone, fundamental to bringing sanity to the nation from decades-long confinement in the dark passageway of division.

The parade, with the highlight being a sprawling display of a 1,700-meter-long Red and White flag stretching from the National Monument (Monas) to the HI traffic circle, was not simply an ordinary event. It was a parade full of cultural and symbolic meaning as well as an ideological calling for unity and the integrity of the nation.

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The last decade has seen the nation polarizing into two camps fiercely engaged in sociopolitical rivalries. The divisiveness has infiltrated the nation’s psychological marred with hatred, slander, humiliation and false news. The parade, which was attended by elements of the government, community organizations, national leaders, diverse ethnic and interreligious groups, young participants and students, reaffirmed the diversity that could serve as an articulation to get out of the political manipulation by interest-vested clout.

The Red and White flag is not simply a symbol of the state, but – with the participants from diverse backgrounds holding it up together – a "master signifier" of the nation’s noble ideological aspirations for national diversity and unity, as truly prescribed in the first principle of the state ideology, Pancasila. The message of “unity” has so far been undermined and distorted by political-economic forces. The Red and White parade was an ideological rearticulation of the true meaning of “unity”.

Ideological rearticulation

The Red and White parade was an occasion to articulate the ideological values of Pancasila, notably that of unity and diversity. Born out of the nation’s consensus of abstract and general social beliefs, Pancasila directs citizens to rationality and deeds. Therefore, it must be articulated continuously or rearticulated through a number of discourses, behaviors and actions. This rearticulation is vital to guarding the core values of Pancasila from manipulation and distortion.

Ideology can be articulated by mobilizing all semiotic resources — the verbal, visual or object — through various discourses: speech, behavior and action, like in the case of holding up together the Red and White flag during the parade. As a discourse, the Red and White parade presented speeches, tausiah (religious preaches), pledges, pictures, symbols and body language as forms of the rearticulation of ideology. This rearticulation was an attempt to reaffirm the true ideology and warned against the threat of distortion and obstruction by narrow-minded sociopolitical groups (Zienkowski, 2017).

KOMPAS/AGUS SUSANTO

Aerial photo of residents attending the Red and White Parade at the Hotel Indonesia Roundabout, Central Jakarta, Sunday (28/8/2022). The Red and White Carnival was released by President Joko Widodo who was accompanied by the National Police Chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo from the Merdeka Palace and circled at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout.

Ideological manipulation creates the polarization of the nation due to the scathing operation of what has been termed the "ideological square" mechanism, which leads to blind adherence to one's own group (in-group), and insinuation against another (out-group) (Van Dijk, 1998). The ideological square creates a colossal yet artificial articulation of ideological conflicts between “unity proponents” and “anti-unity opponents”.

In a number of cases, the ideological articulation of NKRI Harga Mati (the unitary state of Republic of Indonesia is unnegotiable) has been abused, putting that unity at peril. The Red and White parade was a persuasive appeal or call for the citizens to become the actors who could preserve the ideological authenticity of unity. The event served as an opportunity that was expected to encourage citizens’ cognitive thinking to adapt to, or reflect on the nation’s beliefs and values, build up knowledge and, if necessary, change the attitudes and behaviors in order to reaffirm the true national ideology (Pelclová & Lu, 2018).

This ideological reaffirmation is urgent in the face of the threat of national fragmentation, in order to bring about mind control toward understanding and implementing the true ideology (Van Dijk, 2000). The parade was an interpellation for all elements of diverse society to become the proponents of “unity” ideology.

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It was an "ideological-symbolic" event for citizens to transform themselves from being the victims of ideological division to the proponents of ideological “unity in diversity”. Ideological divisiveness has triggered fractures in the nation in the last decade. The parade mobilized multimodal signs (verbal, visual, body language) to invite social elements to unite (Machin & Mayr, 2012). Supplications and the appearance of interfaith leading figures were the markers of unity in diversity. As a reaffirmation of ideology and rearticulation of the message of unity and integrity, the Red and White parade deployed various "sign vehicles" as indices.

The presence of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, police high-rank officers and various elements of the nation were the "indices". An appeal for the citizens to unite also demands imposing articulation skills. The presence of charismatic cleric Habib Luthfi bin Ali bin Yahya and other religious leaders, along with the rhetoric-inclusive narratives they raised, were expected to be able to affirm the message of unity in diversity.

The rearticulation of Pancasila as the nation’s ideology, especially the principle of “unity”, should not end with the Red and White parade. The rearticulation should be continuously promulgated because ideology operates in the realm of "hegemony" (Gramsci, 1971).

If the authenticity of ideology is not persistently articulated (rearticulated) — to be accepted, appreciated and attached to the minds of every component of the nation — interest-laden ideologies, which are articulated for the sake of political and social groups’ interests, can distort, obscure and undermine the true ideology

Political implications

Through the Red and White parade, the National Police chief sent out a strong message about the responsibility to foster the Red and White message, especially ahead of the 2024 presidential election. The magnitude of the message was represented by the display of the 1,700-m-long Red and White flag, in addition to thousands of hand-held flags as well as various red and white accessories worn by the participants.

Here, “red and white” became a “big marker” to rearticulate its authentic meaning against manipulation and distortion. The National Police chief has beaconed high modality given his inherent hierarchal position with a high level of "instruction" (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2001), where all components of the nation are “obliged” to foster the Red and White flag and its ideological value, which is national unity and integrity.

Only through the rearticulation of ideology, will the nation get out of the dark tunnel of division and look ahead confidently to the future.

This strong signal is urgent amid the political escalation in the build-up to the 2024 general election. Hopes abound that the five-yearly feast of democracy will be able to produce leaders who uphold their commitment to the unity and integrity of the nation. This strong signal should therefore transform the posture of the 2024 event from a national division-threatening political antagonism into national unity-strengthening democratic feast. Welcoming the 2024 general election, political elites and constituents should build their maneuvers, communications, narratives and the verbal language in the corridor of the Red and White spirit. The democratic feast should be a true ideology-based battleground for the contestants, not an arena fought out in the frame of radical-liberalism ideology (Laclau & Mouffe, 2001).

Within the frame of Pancasila as the national consensus, the election’s contestants see each other as political opponents with mutual respect for their political ideologies, not as political “enemies” with reciprocal grudges aimed at humiliating their opponents for their beliefs and annihilating their existence. This is the true message of national unity and integrity. Therefore, the rearticulation of the message of "Red and White" should become a nationwide movement involving all components of the nation to nurture a sense of affinity to Red and White, and a sense of responsibility to the unity and integrity of the nation.

This rearticulation must be carried out on a massive scale through the multimodality of communicative resources, such as language, media and discourse, in order to bring about a multiplied articulate effect. Only through the rearticulation of ideology, will the nation get out of the dark tunnel of division and look ahead confidently to the future.

KOMPAS/MOHAMMAD HILMI FAIQ

Yasraf A Piliang

Yasraf A. Piliang, Social and Cultural Observer, Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB)

This article was translated by Musthofid.