T

he Defense Ministry has unveiled a plan to incorporate its state defense program, popularly known as Bela Negara, into school curricula starting next year.

Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said on Friday that the ministry had worked closely with the Culture and Education Ministry and the Religious Affairs Ministry to create a program that would not only instill nationalist values but also teach students about the state'€™s defense system and law enforcement.

'€œWe will implement this subject as a stand-alone subject called Bela Negara. [The way the students are taught] will differ according to their age. For example, elementary school students will be taught to sing [the national anthem] and learn to identify [historical] figures,'€ Ryamizard told reporters at the Defense Ministry in Central Jakarta.

Last month, the ministry launched its voluntary Bela Negara program, in which applicants undertake 30 days of training at a state defense boot camp to eventually prepare citizens to deal with threats and play a role in state defense programs.

In its implementation into the national curriculum, Ryamizard insisted that the subject would differ from the voluntary program, focusing more on discussion of national ideology, or Pancasila, than on physical training and defense.

According to the ministry'€™s head of training and education, Maj. Gen. Hartind Asrin, students will be given Bela Negara lessons covering three main topics.

'€œThere are three main subjects. First, basic study: We will teach [students] to understand nationhood and the national defense system and also how to develop leadership skills. Second, we will teach them basic intelligence skills. Each person following the program will learn to maximize information gathering. The third subject will be on the local environment, based on the situation at hand,'€ he said.

Hartind added that students in kindergarten, fifth grade, 8th grade and 11th grade, who generally have more free time as they are not at the stage of preparing for graduation exams, would be given Bela Negara lessons.

While kindergarten students would sit one Bela Negara class a month, children in the higher grades would be given instruction in the subject for just one spell of five consecutive days in the academic year, he explained.

'€œIt'€™s only five days, but we'€™ve run tests and found that'€™s sufficient to give students what they need,'€ he said, adding that university students would be given Bela Negara classes as part of their orientation programs.

The new program, Hartind went on, would be kicked off simultaneously in all 207,895 schools nationwide next year, with preparations for the introduction of the program 90 percent complete.

Meanwhile, Culture and Education Ministry special adviser Taufik Hanafi said he believed that the program would benefit both children and the state in the long run, as global ideology increasingly required a multicultural perspective, something that would be taught through the subject.

'€œThe values of Bela Negara, including discipline and tolerance, are values that are increasingly universal. As such, [the program] will boost our nation'€™s standing in the eyes of the international community,'€ he said.

Taufik added that it was essential for students to be given continual and consistent Bela Negara lessons, to allow the lessons to become a habitual part of school routine.