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Government remains undecided over Pancasila day
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo’s administration has not yet decided to recognize June 1, 1945 as the official anniversary of the national ideology of Pancasila and subsequently make the date a public holiday, but is continuing to draft a related regulation.
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A worker carries out fogging at the Pancasila Sakti (Five Sacred Principles) monument in Jakarta on Sept. 29, 2015, in preparation for Kesaktian Pancasila (Sacred Pancasila) Day celebrations held on Oct. 1 to remember the country's 1965 massacre. (TEMPO/Dia Triyuli Handoko)
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span style="line-height: 1.6em;">President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo’s administration has not yet decided to recognize June 1, 1945 as the official anniversary of the national ideology of Pancasila and subsequently make the date a public holiday, but is continuing to draft a related regulation.
Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said the draft still needed to be finalized, adding that the President would be ready to sign it when a regulation in lieu of law was prepared.
"President Jokowi doesn't only want Pancasila to be remembered and celebrated or just preserved, but also for it to be implemented in the everyday lives of the Indonesian people, in every aspect of their lives," Pramono said on Wednesday as quoted by Kompas.com.
It was hoped that Pancasila would be practiced by all Indonesians and conveyed as real results toward a prosperous Indonesia, he added.
While referring to the President's speech during a celebration for the founding of Pancasila held at Blitar town square on June 1 last year, Pramono said the values within Pancasila that were initiated by Indonesia's first president, Sukarno, must be continuously pursued.
"Without continuous pursuit, the message of Pancasila cannot be made a reality. President Jokowi invites everyone to unite and work together in realizing that dream," he said.
Kompas reported that the draft regulation had been extensively discussed at all levels of government, from echelon one staff up to ministerial level.
Approximately two months ago, the preparation of the regulation was discussed at the offices of the state secretary and Cabinet secretary. However, June 1 has yet to be declared as the founding day of Pancasila and made a public holiday.
At the beginning of the New Order regime under the dictatorship of Soeharto, celebrating June 1 was prohibited. Instead, Pancasila Reverence Day was observed on Oct. 1.
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri previously said the government should declare June 1 a national day to remember the founding of Pancasila.
Speaking during a seminar on the book Revolusi Pancasila (Pancasila Revolution) in October last year, Megawati said Indonesia's sixth president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, once promised to declare June 1 a national day.
Declaring the date could be beneficial not only in recognizing the nation's core values but also as momentum to unite the people, added the daughter of the late president Sukarno.
Megawati, who was president prior to Yudhoyono, expressed disappointment at the failure to realize the plans so far, while suspecting that the reason behind it was to eliminate Sukarno's role in the initiation of Pancasila.
Indonesia's largest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), has also asked Jokowi to declare June 1 as the anniversary of Pancasila.
The request was conveyed during the 93rd commemoration of NU celebrated in East Java earlier this month.
NU chairman Said Aqil Siradj said the organization had conducted numerous academic studies, both historical and ideological, to reach its final decision. (liz/dan)
