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[av_heading heading=’Threatened Pancasila’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’18’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
BY JED JALECO DEL ROSARIO
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February 11, 2018
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INDONESIA’S official ideology is Pancasila, a set of five, interrelated points that combines humanism, religiosity, nationalism and multiculturalism into a single package.
Despite the country’s semi-secular motto, however, Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world (at least in terms of population size), and it is this Islamic characteristic that is threatening the relatively moderate nature of Indonesia’s official ideology.
A good example is the recent decision amongst Indonesian lawmakers to ban sex between gays and unmarried couples. Although the laws have yet to be passed, they seem to be a big issue in the country, as they represent the efforts of “hard line” groups to exert more control over Indonesian society. According to reports, if the laws against pre-marital and homosexual sex are passed, perpetrators may be punished by up to five years of imprisonment.
Now, it’s worth mentioning that most of Indonesia’s Muslims are moderate, which isn’t really saying something, because most people are moderate in the sense that they don’t care about politics. For the people who do care, though, they dictate policy more often than not, and in the case of Indonesia that policy seems to be headed towards increasing Islamization.
At the forefront of this trend are groups, like Hizbut Tahrir and the Islamic Defenders Front (IDF). The Hizbut Tahrir is an international organization that describes itself as “ideology as Islam” while the Islamic Defenders Front or Front Pembela Islam is a sunni organization that grew in Indonesia in the ’90s.
Presently, Indonesia‘s House is controlled by a few secular parties, but those very same parties are unwilling to anger their Muslim electorate, some of whom are probably sympathetic to Hizbut Tahrir and the IDF. Thus, lawmakers could not help but appease the interests of more hard line elements in their society, which explains why laws like those mentioned earlier are being considered in Indonesia. If they are passed then Pancasila will either die or be transformed in very dramatic ways.
This probably seems academic to most people, but Indonesia is a good example of how secular or semi-secular countries radicalize over time. It’s not something nefarious. It’s simply a product of demographics, history and culture. Despite the efforts of those who support Indonesia’s Pancasila ideology, the country is around 87 percent Muslim, and the reality of that demographic will eventually exert itself in the public sphere. It is exerting itself now via the efforts of the IDF and the Hizbut Tahrir, even though such organizations are relatively marginal.
Most modern states pretend that they can be neutral, secular or some variation thereof by implementing certain ideologies; ideologies like Pancasila for example, but blood, religion and history is deeper than ideology, and given enough time, they will begin to seep through the modern veneer. (jdr456@gmail.com/PN)
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