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Coping with Intolerance and Separatism in Indonesia: The Pancasila Principles

Chapter of: Beyond the Spirit of Bandung: Philosophies of National Unity: Secular or Religious?

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Metadata
TitleCoping with Intolerance and Separatism in Indonesia: The Pancasila Principles
ContributorCahyo Pamungkas(author)
Qusthan A. H. Firdaus(author)
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.54195/FLRI3273_CH03
Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
PublisherRadboud University Press
Published on2023-11-30
Long abstractThe Bandung Principles do emphasize an open dialogue based on mutual respect. This standard applies in the international relations between countries in post-colonial Asia and Africa. It is also relevant as a value for building peaceful relations between ethnic or religious groups at the nation-state level. The principles of 'Pancasila' can be perceived as the translation of the Bandung Principles. The Indonesian state ideology aims to an open dialogue as a strategy for coping with the national ethnoreligious - and secessionist conflicts. The political changes in 1998, resulting in the <i>resignation of president Suharto</i>, demonstrated however an approach by local elites to protect their political and economic interests through activating ethnic or religion-based primordial sentiments. The communal violence between religious or ethnic groups continued with the persecution of minority religious groups, emerging in 2004. Since then, step by step the conflicts were fueled by religious intolerance and radicalism. This article aims to describe to what extent the ideology of Pancasila is valuable as a conceptual framework to overcome religious intolerance and separatist conflicts in a national context while promoting the values of plurality in a diverse society. The analysis <i>reflects critically on the applications of the principles of Pancasila and their limits for religious, political, economic and social cohesion. It is</i> argued that Pancasila has shortcomings in serving as a philosophy of national unity. Pancasila is ideological in its meaning as it aims to promote harmony among diverse population of ethnic groups across Indonesia. At the local level, the application of Pancasila principles is somewhat successful. However, one should not unilaterally comprehend Pancasila only in politics, religion philosophy nor economy. The multiplicity of perspectives on the meaning and strategic position of Pancasila leads to a contest of meanings. A contest that goes beyond a national debate and actually raises tensions and conflicts. It thus contradicts the intentions of Pancasila as an answer to intolerance and radicalism in Indonesia. This study uses literature studies of researches on ethnoreligious conflict, separatism and Pancasila.
Keywords
  • Pancasila
  • religious intolerance
  • secessionism
  • national unity
Contributors

Cahyo Pamungkas

(author)
Research Centre for Areas Studies, Indonesian Institute of Sciences
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0299-127X

Cahyo Pamungkas is a research professor in the Research Centre for Areas Studies -Indonesian Institute of Sciences. His studies focuses on ethno-religious groups relations in the Melanesian provinces of Eastern Indonesia. In 2015, Cahyo finished his PhD in Faculty of Social Sciences, Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands, under Ethno-religious Conflict in Indonesia and the Philippines Programme supported by the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research (NWO

Qusthan A. H. Firdaus

(author)
Islamic State University, Syarif Hidayatullah
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9114-6798

Qusthan A. H. Firdaus serves as a lecturer at the Department of Aqeedah and Islamic Philosophy, Faculty of Ushuluddin (Theology), the UIN (Islamic State University) Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta. Prior to his work as a lecturer, Firdaus accomplished a postgraduate degree in applied ethics at the University of Melbourne, Australia and an undergraduate degree in philosophy at the Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. His research interests are ethics, logic and political philosophy