The announcement was made in Bandung, West Java, during an event held by the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) to commemorate the date 71 years ago when first president Sukarno made a speech describing Pancasila as the ideology that would be used to build a new nation.

Pancasila, which became the country’s ideology upon independence, consists of five principles — divinity, humanism, nationalism, consensual decision-making and social justice.

Commemorating the founding of Pancasila was previously banned by the government under the leadership of former president Soeharto. His New Order regime instead promoted Pancasila Sanctity Day every Oct. 1 to mark the defeat of communism.

Recalling various experiences during his overseas trips since taking office in late 2014, Jokowi said he had found that many countries had begun to lose confidence in diversity amid growing radicalism and terrorism.

Jokowi said he was grateful to have Pancasila as the national ideology.

“With Pancasila as the nation’s ideology, there is no reason for us not to be optimistic. We must be optimistic in facing the future; we must believe that we can overcome all problems as we are becoming a better nation,” he said during the event held at the historical Merdeka Building in Bandung.

“The bottom line is that Pancasila is the state ideology; this is the highest position in a country. So, we decided to declare June 1 a national holiday for the birth of Pancasila,” Jokowi told reporters after the event, which was also attended by political party elites including Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chair and former president Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Other than presidential spokesman Johan Budi, who mentioned Jokowi’s plan to name June 1 a national holiday, the State Palace has been tight-lipped on rumors that the President’s decision was made in favor of Megawati, one of the daughters of Sukarno, who was forced to leave his presidency during a political crisis in 1965.

Last year, Megawati called on the government to declare June 1 a national day to remember the founding of Pancasila. Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country’s largest Islamic organization, also recently asked Jokowi to declare the date as the anniversary of Pancasila.

In an emotional speech, Megawati said that without Pancasila, there would be no such thing as the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia, as Pancasila was not merely the nation’s ideology, but also a tool that unified the nation. Therefore, she added, the country should commemorate the founding of Pancasila.

“Happy anniversary of Pancasila; let the nation rise with the spirit of Pancasila,” she said. “Let’s make the Pancasila of June 1, 1945, the way of life for our nation, to keep moving forward,” she said, her voice shaking as she held back tears.

However, questions remain whether declaring a national holiday will increase people’s awareness and promote the values of Pancasila.

The country has been confronted recently with unresolved matters from the past regarding the communist purge in 1965 that scarred the nation, as well as the growing threat of radicalism and terrorism.

Jokowi said the government and MPR would follow up on the decision by drafting a mechanism to implement the values of Pancasila in people’s daily lives.      

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