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Communist phobia sinks Pancasila bill at House
Muslim organizations, including Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, along with the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) have led the campaign to stop the House from deliberating the HIP bill, which they fear could lead to the reemergence of communism in the country.
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A motorcyclist passes a Garuda Pancasila mural painted on a wall on Jl. Puspitek Raya in South Tangerang, Banten, on Monday. Pancasila was officially promulgated by Sukarno on June 1, 1945, but only in 2016 did Pancasila Day become a public holiday.
(JP / Dhoni Setiawan)
A
coordinated campaign by Muslim organizations and Islamist political parties at the House of Representatives, which capitalized on the fear of communism, has successfully blocked the deliberation of the Pancasila Ideology Guidelines (HIP) bill, a piece of legislation proposed by the nationalist Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
On Tuesday, following a contentious plenary session at the House involving PDI-P politicians sparring with fellow lawmakers from Muslim-based political parties, the government of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo halted the deliberation of the HIP bill, which aims to regulate the values of the Pancasila ideology and the functions of the Agency for Pancasila Ideology Education (BPIP) – the leader of which is PDI-P chairperson and former president Megawati Soekarnoputri.
Muslim organizations, including Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, along with the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) have led the campaign to stop the House from deliberating the HIP bill, which they fear could lead to the reemergence of communism in the country.
Provisions in the bill state that Pancasila, the state's ideology comprising a belief in one God, a just and civilized humanity, the unity of Indonesia, democracy and social justice, will have three basic characteristics called trisila (three principles) consisting of socionationalism, sociodemocracy and cultural divinity. All three values would then be crystallized in ekasila (one principle) of gotong royong (mutual cooperation).
The country's two largest Muslim organizations and the Indonesian Ulema Council have called the bill “atheistic”, given that the trisila concept will degrade the “belief in one God” principle of Pancasila. Officials from the three organizations have also lambasted the bill, which has been an initiative of the House, for failing to include Temporary People’s Consultative Assembly Decree (TAP MPR) No. 25/1966 on the banning of communism in Indonesia.
The MUI has been at the forefront in the opposition to the bill and issued an edict on June 12 calling on all Muslims in the country to unite against the bill. The council said the bill could pave the way for the country to legalize communist ideology. “We don’t want the deliberation process of the bill to be postponed, we want a complete stop,” MUI secretary-general Anwar Abbas told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
NU, meanwhile has been calling for President Jokowi's administration to officially reject contentious provisions in the bill and appreciated the government's decision to halt its deliberation.
