Pancasila and Indonesia’s foreign policy

On June 1, 2011 Indonesians celebrated the sanctity day of the Pancasila. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his predecessors, Megawati Soekarnoputri and B.J. Habibie, made a public statement during its commemoration. They shared the view and reaffirmed that the Pancasila is the national ideology and the essence of our nationhood.

Despite broad discussions on the Pancasila as national ideology, more light needs to be shed on the role of the Pancasila in Indonesia’s foreign relations and foreign policy. In what ways has the Pancasila shaped our foreign policy? Is there a place for the Pancasila in today’s Indonesian foreign policy?

Ideology is an important factor that affects one country’s foreign policy. The country’s behavior toward other countries has often been driven by the ideological underpinning of its foreign policy. This is particularly noticeable during the Cold War era although historians continue to contend on the significance of ideology on the Cold War international relations.

The bipolar system that was a prominent feature of the Cold War reflected the competition of two ideologies — liberal democracy and Marxism Leninism, or as quoted by President Sukarno in his “To build the world anew” speech, in Bertnard Russell’s words as the Declaration of Independence versus the Communist Manifesto.

Yet, in reality the bipolar world was not fully bipolar. In the midst of the ideological contention, new ideologies outside the mainstream emerged. Maoism that continues to reverberate until today, especially in Nepal and India, came into sight. Many countries chose the non-alignment ideology as their foreign policy orientation.

In today’s context, the bipolar pattern is no longer evident. The world now has a wide range of ideological poles. These ideological underpinnings manifest in many variants that stretch across economic and political domains — from neo-capitalism, neo-liberal utopia of total market, globalism and neo-globalism, post-modernism, humanitarianism, and greenism or environmentalism, regionalism, inter-regionalism, just to name a few.

Linking the Pancasila to Indonesia’s foreign policy would sound conceptual and normative. To some realists, this would be nonsensical. But, since its formal inception in 1945, one cannot ignore the fact that either intentionally or by chance, Pancasila has been embedded in the Indonesian foreign policy. Since Independence, it affected in one way or another the formulation and implementing of Indonesian foreign policy.

As Indonesia held on to the values and principles enshrined in Pancasila, Indonesia confidently called for the convening of the 1955 Asia-Africa Conference, the creation of the Non-aligned Movement, the creation of ASEAN, the abolition of apartheid, independence for the Palestinians, a just and more balanced global financial architecture, and the building of a new era of social justice.

Indonesia may develop a diplomacy aimed at constructing an architecture of international relations based upon the values and principles preserved in the Pancasila. This is a lofty idea, and practical challenges in realizing the idea are obvious. But an attempt to levelize this ideology from the state level to the global level was made.

In 1960, when speaking to the UN General Assembly, the same vision was strongly voiced by President Sukarno. In his “To build the world anew” speech, the President said, “I believe, yes, I firmly believe that the adoption of those five principles and the writing of them into the Charter would greatly strengthen the United Nations ...Finally, I believe that the adoption of [the Pancasila] as a foundation of the Charter would ensure the Charter was more whole-hearted to all members, both old and new.”

The Pancasila also commands the focuses in Indonesia’s foreign relations. When competing interests do not really reflect the true interest of Indonesia as a nation-state, foreign policy decision makers could turn to Pancasila as a guide in aggregating a genuinely national interest.

In an increasingly democratic country like Indonesia, proliferation of foreign policy actors is possible. More civil society groups take greater interest in and make responses to global issues that affect Indonesia such as climate change and environment, MDGs, food and energy security. Businesses are also part of the Indonesian foreign policy establishment. When all parties have their interests that seem to raise questions on whether those interests are truly of national interest, one can resort to the Pancasila as a standard in assessing the nature of those interests.

The Pancasila also can become the source of foreign policy preferences. It guides Indonesia to choose policy options and a preferred course of action. This is what has inspired Indonesia to adopt bebas aktif (free and active) foreign policy and a non-aligned orientation. This is also what drives Indonesia to pursue a million friends and zero enemies, a fairer and more balanced and inclusive globalization process, a dynamic and moving Doha Development Round.

At the individual level, Indonesian diplomats may wish to manifest the values of the Pancasila in their personal behavior and behavior toward fellow diplomats. As they are frequently posted abroad, diplomats generally have the opportunity to be exposed to other values and norms that are recognized in internationally diplomatic practices and traditions. Their contacts with foreign cultures may only equip them with more horizons of normative references that they could align with, in addition to the Pancasila.

There is no need to invent a concept of a Pancasila diplomacy or diplomat. Most important is how the values and principles in the Pancasila make the spirit of all aspects of Indonesian foreign policy and at all levels of diplomacy. Thus, actualization is more important than verbalism.

On a final note, values and norms do matter in international relations, and the Pancasila is an important part of these norm-based interstate relations.

Every Indonesian may have a dream that the values and principles preserved in the Pancasila would become the normative foundation of the present and future global community, as President Sukarno dreamt of. This is a valid dream despite huge practical challenges to realize it. But we can begin at home, and in the daily life of each and every Indonesian.

The writer is assistant special staff to the president for international relations. The opinions expressed are personal.