Pancasila the national cohesion principles in Jakarta Charter

Following independence from Japan in 1945, a group on nine religious  and nationalist (secular) leaders was commissioned with the promulgation of the ‘ Jakarta Charter’ that contained the five principles known as Pancasila, officially adopted on June 22, 1945. The Charter had been promulgated with the purpose of settling an age-old dispute among Islamists and secular Nationalists over the identity of the emerging state. The group that settled the dispute had been formed by a decree from Ahmed Sukarno, the first President of the independent state, who had been a member of the preparatory group

Isamists attitude towards Pancasila

The social harmony, clearly discernible in the Indonesian community, is, simply, the result of the application of the Pancasila, that has provided the state with a firm basis for its identity, since independence. No wonder you can see, everywhere in Indonesia, people in Islamic garb, going side by side with others in European dress.

The Pancasila, or the Five Principles of National Cohesion are:

1- Belief in the One and Only God,

2- A just and civilized humanity,

3- A unified Indonesia,

4- Democracy, led by the wisdom of the representatives of the People,

5- Social justice for all Indonesians.

These principles, taken together, represent the state’s perspective. They have been inspired by the writings of the Chinese thinker and statesman Sun Yat-Sen. Thanks to these principles, Christianity, the religion of 5% of the population has been recognized, along with pagan beliefs, like Buddhism, Hinduism and other creeds that together make up 6% of the population, whereas Islam is the religion of 88% of Indonesians. Regardless of religious background, all citizens are equal. This has its impact on the education system. But what about its impact on Islamists in Indonesia?

Islamist groups considered that these principles are, simply, a consecration of secularism. They even considered them a menace to Islam in Indonesia, where the majority is Muslim. To them, the expression of ‘Belief in One and Only God’ using the Malay word’Ketuhanan’ was Shirk (polytheism), and Nationalism was a way of glossing over the Muslim Identity of Indonesia, with the aim of replacing it with a nationalistic discourse.

Banishing religious practices from the public sphere has been understood by Islamists as an outright rejection by the state of theocratic rule, whereas, the number of temples for Buddhists and Hindus, along with churches for the Christians are according to them, increasing; becoming almost as many as Muslim mosques. They said that, bearing in mind the increasing numbers of missionaries, who managed to convert millions of Indonesians to Christianity.

Islamists against the government

The year 1973 saw the biggest battle between the government and Islamist groups in the country. The reason for this was that the government wanted to replace Islamic Law (Sharia) regulating personal and family issues, like marriage and divorce, by secular law. Huge numbers of demonstrators took to the streets, and the secular law was annulled.

With the clashes between demonstrators and security forces, ex- President of Indonesia Muhammad Suharto set up a Ministry for religious Affairs, as an authority on religious issues, recognized by the state. Even religious institutions had to abide by rules set by this Ministry. This made it difficult for Islamist groups to make troubles for the government, especially with the presence of representatives of the armed forces in the government.

With the passage of time, worries raised by the Islamic groups and the spread of extremist ideas among its members, especially in remote areas of Indonesia, became worse. It was clear for anyone to see that a new form of Islam was taking shape, among the ranks of these groups, aiming at creating a new identity for Indonesia, based on based on the principles of those groups.

Those groups included the Jemaah Islamiyah founded by Abu Bakar Baasyir and Abdullah Sungkar taking upon itself the establishment of an Islamic state comprising Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, South Philippines and South Thailand. The Indonesian Association of Muslim Scholars has close links with the extremist organization, Hizb ut-Tahrir. There is also the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), founded by Habib Shihab, notorious for attacks against religious minorities. The task this group has set for itself is to replace secular law with Sharia (Islamic Law) and to collaborate with other extremist groups.

The activities of these groups are not limited to Indonesia, they are working hard to establish a presence in neighboring countries, with the aim of setting up a supranational Islamic state, a strategy upheld by Haraki (activistic) movements in the region.

On the other side, a number of experts, like the center named ‘ Islam & multikulturalisme’ (Islam and cultural pluralism), Ali Fauzi Ihsan, see that Pancasila is a bunch of useful and indespensible ideas that can help sustain the unity of the country. Meanwhile, they would not accept the idea that a certain religion may provide a nation with the constitutional basis for its state. Religion is important, but theocracy is unacceptable. They basis for the state is to be found in a set of principles, like Pancasila, that work as a catalyst for intellectual cohesion.

The dispute over Pancasila, between Indonesian government and Islamic groups repeatedly appears and disappears. What the Islamic groups want is a reformulation of the principles of the Pancasila, to make it more suitable for what they call ‘Indonesian identity’, that expresses the supremacy of the Muslim majority. The growing number of armed groups which are antagonistic to secularism is a threat to the civilian character of the Indonesian state.