President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo took the reins of Pancasila Week last week, launching a campaign promoting the state ideology with the phrase “I am Indonesia, I am Pancasila.”

People soon picked up the slogan, uploading photos of themselves inside a red and white template emblazoned with the words. Social media timelines soon filled up with posts promoting the Pancasila ideology and encouraging Indonesian citizens to respect differences, a message given special relevance by the growing sectarian tensions the country is facing.

Such campaigns will be one of the ways a newly established body will promote the ideology established by the country’s founding fathers. This body, the Presidential Working Unit on the Implementation of Pancasila (UKP-PIP), was inaugurated by Jokowi on Wednesday. However, its formation has been met with concerns that the body will function similarly to the now-defunct Agency for the Propagation of Pancasila (BP7) established by the former dictator Soeharto.

The former president used the powerful agency to indoctrinate Pancasila principles in all citizens as a way to hold onto power, something that he managed to do for more than three decades.

Jokowi has previously said he believed the country needed the body to counter anti-Pancasila groups that threatened the country’s unity.

Muslim scholar Yudi Latif, who was appointed as chairman, brushed off concerns that the new body would revive the indoctrination of the New Order days. The UKP-PIP is a single body that was only established to design Pancasila programs for state institutions and ensure that all government programs are consistent with the values enshrined in Pancasila, he said.

As opposed to BP7, it does not have any authority to enforce the programs and will leave it up to the respective government institutions regarding how the programs are implemented. It will also have its own panel of experts to support its work.

Furthermore, to show that openness it high on its agenda, UKP-PIP will also work with volunteers from local communities such as interfaith leaders, clerics, filmmakers and cultural observers. The community-driven scheme is expected to deliver “friendly Pancasila programs” promoting the social values in a way that will be easy for young people to absorb.

“The relationship between the unit and society is no longer vertical like the one in the past in which the state acted as the sole interpreter [of Pancasila] and the state delivered it [to officials and citizens] through compulsory training. This is a community-driven state body,” Yudi said.

He also suggested that the unit’s office not be located inside the State Palace compound, but instead in a location that facilitated people to come in and pitch ideas.

At the body’s inauguration on Wednesday, Jokowi officially appointed Yudi and nine people as advisers. Former president and Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chief patron Megawati Soekarnoputri will lead the board of advisers with other advisers including retired Indonesian Military (TNI) general and Soeharto’s former vice president Try Sutrisno, former chief justice of the Constitutional Court Mahfud MD, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) chairman Said Aqil Siradj, pluralism activist and former Muhammadiyah chairman Syafi’i Ma’arif, Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) chairman Ma’ruf Amin, Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) chairman Andreas Anangguru Yewangoe, Indonesia Hindu Religious Council (PHDI) chairman Wisnu Bawa Tenaya and Buddhayana Indonesia Assembly (MBI) chairman Sudhamek.

“This unit is like the kitchen where all the food will be cooked and later delivered to relevant institutions,” Yudi said.

MUI chairman Ma’ruf Amin told the President that he would instruct MUI branch offices and clerics across the country to support programs launched by UKP-PIP in the future.

Mahfud MD also lauded the unit and told members of the public to not be concerned that the government would use it to arbitrarily label organizations as anti-Pancasila.

“The unit will help the President to ensure that all state policies comply with Pancasila as the state ideology,” Mahfud said.

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