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Pancasila under threat of politicization
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Senior Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigator Novel Baswedan (right) walks after reporting the antigraft body leaders to the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) on May 24, 2021. The employees reported the KPK commisioners pertaining to the controversial civic knowledge test for employees as part of the mandatory transition to civil servant employment status. (Antara/M. Risyal Hidayat)
T
he highly contentious dismissal of 51 Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) employees for failing a civics test aimed at assessing their understanding and loyalty to the national ideology of Pancasila raises the specter of the New Order regime that once weaponized it to quash dissenters and achieve short-term political goals.
The civic test was marred by irregularities and is seen by critics as nothing but a ploy by the political elites to remove senior investigators within the commission, including Novel Baswedan and Harun Al-Rasyid, who have led major corruption cases implicating high-profile politicians.
The test was preceded by a systematic social media campaign describing Novel and other elements within the KPK as “Taliban”, or Muslim radicals who are opposed to Pancasila. The narrative, decried as baseless by KPK employees and antigraft activists, is now being used to legitimize the results of the controversial civic tests on social media, even though those failing the tests include non-Muslims.
Read also: Jokowi under pressure to intervene in KPK conflict
The controversy surrounding the KPK civic test has come on the heels of the disbandment of Islamist groups—Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia and the Islam Defenders Front (FPI)—on the grounds that their ideologies contravene Pancasila, among other factors, a policy critics describe as “illiberal” and setting a bad precedent for the trajectory of Indonesian democracy.
New order specter
The series of events has fueled concerns about the potential weaponization of Pancasila, especially after President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s administration established the Agency for Pancasila Ideology Education (BPIP) in February 2018. The agency, now led by Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) leader Megawati Soekarnoputri, has been granted a sweeping mandate to promote and safeguard Pancasila values.
