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Interfaith religious leaders to be inaugurated as members of Pancasila body
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Members of the Doctors for Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (DBTI) gather to commemorate Pancasila Day at the National Awakening Museum (STOVIA) in Jakarta on June 1. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
P
resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has named 10 members of the newly established presidential working unit on the implementation of the state ideology of Pancasila (UKP-PIP), the members include inter-faith religious leaders.
Renowned Pancasila scholar and writer, who is also co-founder of the Nurcholish Madjid Society, Yudi Latif, will lead the working unit, which is tasked with combating growing extremist ideologies in the country.
(Read also: Pledges for Pancasila renewed as bigotry haunts nation)
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman and former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, meanwhile, will be the unit's lead adviser, according to an official document made available to The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
The other eight members are:
- Former vice president Try Sutrisno
- Former Constitutional Court chief justice Mahfud M.D
- Muslim intellectual, pluralism activist and former Muhammadiyah chairman Syafi’i Ma’arif
- Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) chairman Ma’ruf Amin
- Former Muhammadiyah chairman Sirajuddin "Din" Syamsuddin
- Communion of Churches in Indonesia (PGI) chairman Andreas Anangguru Yewangoe
- Indonesia Hindu Religious Councils (PHDI) chairman Wisnu Bawa Tenaya
- Buddhayana Indonesia Assembly (MBI) chairman Sudhamek.
Jokowi is scheduled to officially inaugurate the UKP-PIP members on Wednesday. Critics have warned the body might replicate the now-defunct Agency for the Propagation of Pancasila (BP7).
Presidential spokesman Johan Budi shrugged off the criticism. "The body is set up to disseminate the values of Pancasila and it does not have any authority to label organizations or someone as anti-Pancasila,” Johan said over the weekend. (ecn/bbs)
