New theme for Pancasila day

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)