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Flag ceremony, calls for national unity mark Pancasila Day
Post-election messages to restore national unity marked Saturday's Pancasila Day, which falls annually on June 1 to mark the birth of the state ideology.
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People carry a lantern in the shape of a 'garuda' (center), a mythical bird and the national symbol, during the Gerebeg Pancasila parade on Friday evening in Blitar, East Java. (JP/Asip Hasani)
Citizens across the country celebrated on Saturday the birth of Pancasila, the state ideology.
That Pancasila Day fell just before the Idul Fitri holiday season this year did not discourage people from demonstrating their patriotism with a flag-raising ceremony and traditional rituals, following the divisive 2019 elections of April 17 and the deadly May 21-23 post-election riots in the capital.
Interfaith communities in Semarang, Central Java, performed ruwat, a traditional healing ceremony, o mark Pancasila Day on June 1 at Soegijapranata Catholic University in hopes of restoring national unity.
Local artist Sosiawan Leak opened the "Ngabuburit Meruwat Negeri Pancasila" event with a poem about the struggle of the people of Surabaya to expel Dutch colonial forces. Religious leaders also prayed during the event for the restoration of social unity.
“This event is important, as citizens have become polarized of late because of politics. They have begun forgetting their history and their identity as a diversified nation, therefore [we held] ruwat,” Sosiawan said after his poetry reading.
Father Aloys Budi Purnomo, who organized the ritual, explained that ruwat was for purifying someone or something of a negative aura. “The nation has been tainted with a negative aura as a result of politics. Therefore, I proposed that the [ritual] be performed to commemorate Pancasila Day,” he said.
Founding father Sukarno publicly introduced Pancasila as the state ideology on June 1, 1945, about two months before Indonesia declared independence. It consists of five basic principles upon which the nation is founded: belief in one God, humanitarianism, unity, democracy and social justice. It is also reflected in the national motto, "Bhineka Tunggal Ika", which means "unity in diversity".
