The three vice presidential candidates debated national identity live on television last Tuesday. Interestingly, the forum was structured in such a way that the candidates were allowed to make a speech, lecture or even sing. Long gone are the vigorous, lively and intelligent debates of Indonesia’s parliament in 1950s.

The candidates took a broad sweep on virtually every issue, skipping the fine detail of reality. Only when they talked about the relationship between the state and religion did the debate gain some momentum. But Gen. Wiranto, Gen. Prabowo Subianto and former central bank governor Boediono only recited what every school student is taught about Pancasila, the state ideology, the 1928 Youth Pledge, the Unitary State of Indonesia and the 1945 Constitution.  

The candidates speak beautiful words but the actions are not so polite.

For example, at a recent Golkar campaign rally, rumors were spread by an unidentified source that the wife of Boediono is a Catholic – she is not. The fact that such an issue became news at all reflects voter’s discomfort with the idea of having a leader associated with Christianity. If there really was no problem of religious tolerance, if the so-called Pancasila state was all it purports to be, such an issue would not have made headlines.

A similar controversy surrounded Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono before he became president in 2004, just because his wife’s name is Kristiani, which sounds too much like Christianity to some people.

Leaders of Indonesia’s Catholic minority recently sent a letter to the Kalla-Wiranto team asking them to revoke 151 regional regulations they deem contradictory to the values of Pancasila.

The letter, signed by bishops throughout the country, came in response to a request from the Kalla-Wiranto ticket, but did not specify the regulations. We only know that during Jusuf Kalla and incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s five years in power, some 50 regencies have adopted Sharia law without either leader lifting a finger.

“These regulations are akin to the tip of an iceberg inconspicuously lurking in the water before the boat on which our nation is aboard,” said the letter, read by Secretary General of the Bishop’s Conference of Indonesia (KWI) Sutrisno Atmoko in Jakarta on June 9, 2009.    

The KWI urged the future leaders of this nation not to repeat the issuing of regulations which contradict the Constitution. It went on to say that Pancasila, the 1945 Constitution, the Bhineka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity) principle and the Unitary State of Indonesia have all been undermined by the very people who are supposed to defend them. Indonesia, it says, is solid on the outside but rotten on the inside.  

The KWI also touched on the poor quality but high cost of education, problems in the judiciary, environmental degradation, the gaping hole between the rich and poor and the exploitation of religion for political purposes.

Hundreds of churches have either been destroyed or damaged by acts of violence in Indonesia in recent years and Christians are only one of the country’s minorities. Hindus, Buddhists, Confucianists, the Ahmadiyah all have their fair share of problems.

These are the on the ground realities that the debate should have vigorously addressed. Instead, Indonesian voters were patronized with sweet talk and self-important grandstanding. Artificiality is the last thing this nation needs. 

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