In the name of God, leaders are sworn in to uphold the constitution. However, almost 78 years later, they have failed to pay off the promise of social justice which is the mandate of the constitution.
By
SUKIDI
·5 minutes read
SALOMO TOBING
Sukidi
Nearly 78 years ago, the founders of the nation promised social justice for all Indonesian people. They were willing to take the path of simplicity, suffering and sacrifice of life for the realization of the promise of justice and prosperity in the motherland that is gemah ripah loh jinawi, tata tentrem kerta raharja (affluent and abundant in wealth and population, fertile and water-rich, orderly, peaceful and prosperous). The promise was recorded in the Preamble to the 1945 Constitution, constitution, and fifth principle of Pancasila.
In the name of God, leaders are sworn in to uphold the constitution. However, almost 78 years later, they have failed to pay off the promise of social justice which is the mandate of the constitution. Instead of upholding the constitution, they even turn Indonesia into a country without the principle of social justice for all, but with the practice of injustice for millions of poor people in various corners of the country.
Seeing Indonesia from the periphery, not from the center, reflects the bitter life of the small people who never feel the beauty of the promise of justice and prosperity contained in the constitution. The story of Pariyem, a poor porter in Beringharjo, Yogyakarta, and Wagiyem, a porter in Solo with inhumane wages – as voiced clearly by Budiman Tanuredjo with the screams of humanity ("Recognition of Pariyem", Kompas, 18 March 2023) -- becomes a reflection of the true portrait of the public life of the small people who are only able to survive to just live. Nearly 78 years of independence, millions of farmers, fishermen, laborers, employees, traders and other young people do not enjoy the promise of independence from poverty in the middle of the sea of flaunted luxury and the greed of the leaders.
Today and in the future, this tattered republic can only stand tall and advance in the hands of leaders who are truly able to realize social justice for all the poor. That is the authentic leadership of the wong cilik (small people), which prioritizes justice and welfare of the poor as the highest standard in public services. Satisfaction in public services is determined solely by the fulfillment of the promise of justice and welfare of the poor so that the little people can enjoy the promise of justice and prosperity that has thus far been sounded so abstract, far from everyday life.
The promise of social justice must begin with the courage of the leaders standing in the front row leading the anticorruption movement, against corruption that has greatly damaged the joints of the life of the state, because the country that has been designed brilliantly by its founders in the form of this modern republic continues to move to what was paradoxically called as the "republic of corruption" (Kompas, 25 March 2023). The gist of the republic, said Sukarno (1959) in Latin, is "res publica! Once again, res publica," while corruption even undermines and erodes the promise of justice and mutual prosperity.
In this context, leaders who do not dare to lead anticorruption policies, and instead weaken it through legal instruments and power, are tantamount to plunging Indonesia into a failed state. The governance of the republic with massive corruption practices is clearly betraying the promise of social justice mandated by the founding mothers and fathers of the nation.
The promise of social justice for all poor people may only be realized by leaders who are able to carry out clean and good governance. With the success in leading the national anticorruption movement, leaders can begin to put the state budget, one that is clean of corruption, toward the maximum investment in the development of human resources (human capital investment), because superior and competitive human resources are the main key for the Indonesian people to overcome the backwardness that currently makes the country so distant from developed countries.
The best investment in the development of human resources lies in an evenly distributed access to quality free education, from early childhood education (PAUD)/kindergarten to higher education. In poverty pockets, leaders must even provide centers of excellence, especially in quality education, starting in terms of teaching staff, teaching methods, educational infrastructure to learning ecosystems. In particular, the leaders must make radical breakthroughs by redesigning the national education curriculum that prioritizes science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics (STEAM).
With this superior curriculum, the learner community is fully oriented to foster a sense of love for science, respect for scientific thinking and is fully loyal to scientific methods, scepticism, fallibilism, open debate and empirical testing, because "the biggest results of instilling appreciation and respect for science are to enable everyone to think more scientifically ". This is the best “fatwa”S of a psychology professor in Harvard, Steven Pinker, in Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanis and Progress (2018) -- Bill Gates' favorite book of all time. The leaders must hear and obey this "fatwa" for the progress of the Republic of Indonesia.
