Pancasila (politics)
Pancasila (Indonesian: [pantʃaˈsila] ) is the official, foundational philosophical theory of Indonesia. The name is made from two words originally derived from Sanskrit: "pañca" ("five") and "śīla" ("principles", "precepts").[1]
This article is about the Indonesian state philosophy. For other uses, see Pañcasīla.
It is composed of five principles:
The legal formulation of Pancasila is contained in the fourth paragraph of the preamble of the Constitution of Indonesia.
Rationale[edit]
By the first half of the 20th century, some ideologies that had been established or made their way to the Dutch East Indies included imperialism and its antithesis anti-colonial nationalism, traditional Javanese statecraft, Islamism, democracy, socialism, and communism. Proponents of these ideologies had formed political organizations or parties to forward their respective causes. The Islamist party Sarekat Islam was established in 1905 followed by Masyumi in 1943. The Communist Party was established in 1914, while Sukarno's nationalist Indonesian National Party was established in 1927. Favoring one ideology over another would not satisfy the whole spectrum of Indonesian people, thus it was decided that the new republic needed to synthesize a new ideology derived from indigenous Indonesian values as well as common shared values derived from various ideologies.
On 30 September 1960, in a speech to the 15th United Nations General Assembly, Sukarno affirmed that the first sila of Pancasila does not aim to persecute those who do not have a religion or are atheists. He said that because even those who do not believe in god have the characteristic Indonesian tolerance; they accept "belief on the one and only God" in the first sila as a characteristic of the nation,[15]
Pancasila was influenced by certain aspects of selected world values and ideologies, such as nationalism, humanitarianism, individual rights, freedom of religion, democracy, socialism.[16] The need to unify this diverse country also led to the formulation of the national motto, Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, which can be translated as unity in diversity. It declares that despite the ethnic and cultural diversity, the Indonesian people are one.[17]
Post-independence development[edit]
Sukarno[edit]
In the campaign for the 1955 legislative election, nationalist parties such as the Indonesian National Party (PNI) and the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) used Pancasila to distinguish themselves from the Islamic Masyumi Party as they feared that if Masyumi won the election, Islam would replace Pancasila as the basis of the nation.[18][19] In the Constitutional Assembly, elected in 1955 to produce a permanent constitution to replace the 1950 Provisional Constitution, the parties organized themselves into factions depending on their preference for the national philosophy. The Pancasila Block had 53.3% of the seats, while the Islamic Block had 44.8%. The debate over which should prevail was not resolved through debate as on 5 July 1959, President Sukarno dissolved the assembly by decree and reimposed the 1945 Constitution. As this included the Pancasila formulation, the Pancasila/Islam debate was ended.[20][21]