National commitment to unitary state questioned

National commitment to unitary state questioned

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Ahead of Youth Pledge Day later this month, local and foreign
experts will take part in a seminar here on Thursday to discuss
the numerous issues facing Indonesia as it attempts to build a
democracy.

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security
Affairs Widodo A.S. is scheduled to open the seminar, which will
be held at the Four Seasons Hotel.

Organizing committee chairman Fanny Habibie said on Wednesday
the seminar would feature a number of experts discussing the
nation's commitment to the Oct. 28, 1928, Youth Pledge -- one
land, one nation and one language.

These experts will include Van Baalen, a member of the Dutch
parliament, and Bilver Singh, a professor at the National
University of Singapore, Fanny said.

Singh will present a paper on injustice and its impact on
secessionist movements in Indonesia, while Baalen will discuss
issues related to Papua and Aceh.

Fanny, who is also a legislator with the Democratic Party,
said National Resilience Institute (Lemhanas) governor Muladi was
expected to discuss a number of issues connected to the state
ideology Pancasila.

Historian Anhar Gonggong will address the Youth Pledge's role
in uniting a country that has so many different cultures, ethnic
groups and religions, and the pledge's relevance to current
conditions.

The seminar is jointly organized by Lemhanas, the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta and the
Pela Gandong Foundation.

Seminar organizing committee deputy chairman Isaac Latuconsina
said the experts would also identify some of the challenges
facing the nation and the government in carrying out the national
reform agenda for democracy.

"The seminar will be a good forum to evaluate President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono's first year in office in the political,
economic, social and human rights fields," he added.

Fanny expressed regret that 77 years after the first Youth
Pledge Day and 60 years after Indonesia gained independence,
there were still questions about the Indonesian unitary state
(NKRI).

"We should no longer have to question NKRI and the status of
Papua, Maluku and Aceh as integral parts of Indonesia. The
secessionist movements in Papua and Aceh have brought us back to
reviewing our national policies of the past and to fighting
against injustices and rampant corruption," he said.