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President Jokowi to officially declare June 1 Pancasila Day
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President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo speaks at an event at the State Palace (Antara/Yudhi Mahatma)
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo will declare June 1 as Pancasila Day on Wednesday, a spokesman for the President has said.
The President has prepared a presidential decree and will make a formal announcement on Wednesday in Bandung, West Java, presidential spokesman Johan Budi said on Tuesday.
"The decision of June 1, as the birth of Pancasila, will be announced tomorrow [Wednesday] through a presidential decree," he said as quoted by kompas.com.
Johan could not confirm whether Pancasila Day would be a national holiday, but he did say that if it was declared a national holiday, it would officially start next year.
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman and former president Megawati Soekarnoputri has aggressively pushed for June 1 to be declared Pancasila Day, to commemorate the birth the state ideology. Pancasila Day will help unite everyone under the ideology, she has said.
Indonesia's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), had also called on Jokowi to declare June 1 Pancasila Day, NU chairman Said Aqil Siradj previously said.
First president Sukarno introduced Pancasila prior to Indonesia gaining independence, on June 1, 1945. Sukarno said in a speech during a meeting to prepare for Indonesia's independence that it took a solid foundation to be a strong independent nation, which he named Pancasila. (rin)
