New theme for Pancasila day

JAKARTA (JP): The country on Sunday commemorates Pancasila Day which falls on Oct. 1 under a new theme, "Commemoration of the National Tragedy due to the Betrayal of Pancasila".

The annual commemoration is in remembrance of a failed coup attempt on Sept. 30, 1965 -- known as G30S-PKI -- blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) and the deaths of seven national heroes in the coup fracas.

The ceremony, beginning at 8 a.m. on Sunday, is slated to be led by Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri and will be attended by ministers and officials at Lubang Buaya Monument in East Jakarta.

The site was used in 1965 by the coup plotters to bury their victims, most of whom were top military generals, in a dried-out well.

Minister of Education Yahya Muhaimin will read the preamble of the 1945 Constitution, while People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais will convey the Pancasila text.

The new theme of the commemoration was set out in State Secretariat Decree No. b-347/Sesneg/2000 signed by state secretary Djohan Efendi and was put into effect by Minister of National Education Decree No. 3/U/2000.

According to the decrees, the change in theme is "necessary to remind people of the essence of the 1965 coup attempt and that every citizen is entitled to prevent such incidents occurring in the future". (edt)