TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Jokowi's decision to establish the Presidential Taskforce for the Consolidation of the Pancasila Ideology is highly questionable. This decision was taken during a limited attendance meeting at the Presidential Palace last week.
Given the global situation, President Jokowi seems concerned about the decline in tolerance, emerging divisions in society and disruptions in public order caused by terrorism and radicalism, especially in the last few months.
This type of reactive measure is not only an ill-considered, knee-jerk reflex, but also poses a potential danger. For example, once the body is established, and intolerance and radicalism do not decline, would it be true to say that the taskforce had failed, or more dangerously that Pancasila no longer functions?
Another danger is that the government seems to want to say that after more than seven decades of independence, the people of Indonesia do not yet understand Pancasila. This assumption is an insult to people's intelligence. In truth, it is the officials and those who run the state who have repeatedly fallen short of implementing Pancasila through their corruption and crimes against the people.
President Jokowi seems to be turning back the clock, taking us back to 1979, when the Suharto regime established the Board for Developing Education and the Implementation of Guidelines for Installing and Applying Pancasila, known as BP7. This body, which was well-funded and had an intricate organizational structure, was set up for the purpose of indoctrination in the form of briefings and lectures. It ended with the downfall of the regime in 1998.
If the problem is solely a matter of dealing with the recent rise in intolerant actions, the most effective measure is law enforcement. The violence by groups claiming to act for the people and religion has increased because nothing has stopped them. In several police districts, law enforcement officers have even helped the Association of Indonesian Ulamas (MUI) to "publicize" a fatwa, or religious ruling, that has no legal standing.
They have been admonished by their superiors a move that deserves praise. National Police Chief Gen. Tito Karnavian has even instructed his officers to arrest any mass organization members who conduct "sweeping" operations in public places, linked to the ban on wearing Christmas-related apparel. Gen.Tito emphasized that the MUI fatwa was not law and could not be used as a basis for law enforcement. President Jokowi should wait for the results of Gen.Tito's "promise", rather than abruptly establishing a body that will only become an additional burden to the budget and turn the presidential office into a bloated inefficient institution.
With this new body positioned directly under the president, it is even more difficult to imagine how busy Jokowi will be, running the country in the midst of economic difficulties and a never-ending series of natural disasters. In truth, the solution to intolerance and radicalism is perfectly clear: comprehensive and thorough law enforcement. (*)
Read the full story in this week's edition of Tempo English Magazine
