Scrap Pancasila as state ideology: Franz
Scrap Pancasila as state ideology: Franz
JAKARTA (JP): The five principles of Pancasila should be used as fundamental values of government policy but discarded as the state ideology, a philosopher said on Thursday.
Franz Magnis-Suseno said use of Pancasila as an ideology since the country's independence distorted it into a totalitarian teaching which excluded other opinions.
"Pancasila was used by the New Order to crush communism, the Islamic political movement and the growth of democracy itself which was labeled as liberal democracy and unfitting to the culture here," said the professor at Driyarkara School of Philosophy and the University of Indonesia.
He was addressing a talk on post-New Order Indonesia, held by the School of Literature at the University of Indonesia. Other speakers included sociologist Thamrin Amal Tomagola.
"An ideology is not needed ... it has become the source of totalitarianism, political intolerance and is antipluralism," Franz said.
The principles are the belief in one God, humanity, unity, consensus through deliberation and social justice.
Franz said the strength of the principles as the basis of state policies was because the values were derived from the people.
An ideology, Franz said, was a closed teaching which judged other teachings as false and therefore to be condemned.
The New Order under Soeharto made Pancasila courses compulsory not only for students but also for government officials, editors and others. Dissenters were labeled "anti- Pancasila" or "communists."
The introduction of Pancasila is credited to Sukarno in a speech during the Japanese occupation on June 1, 1945. The date has been declared the birth of Pancasila.
Franz reiterated that all citizens should be free to learn any ideology, supporting President Abdurrahman Wahid's idea to annul a 1966 decree of the People's Consultative Assembly which bans the propagation of Marxism and Leninism.
The President's proposal prompted widespread protests, including within the government. Minister of Law and Legislation Yusril Ihza Mahendra threatened on Wednesday to quit his position if the ban was revoked.
Yusril said he feared the emergence of an antidemocratic party.
Franz said while the ban on spreading communist teachings should be revoked, another decree was needed to prevent the establishment of antidemocratic parties. (08)