Di Abad Ke-21: Pancasila Apa Masih Diperlukan?

Abstract

This essay wants to show that Indonesia’s state philosophy Pancasila is not only not out of date, but can be the basis of the strong ethical commitments that have to be given if Indonesia wants to handle the extremely serious challenges of the 21st century. The essay points out that humankind faces five life-or-death challenges: the growing crisis of democracy, ideology - mostly religion - based extremism, the sinking of parts of humankind into destitution, the collapse of our natural environment, and artificial intelligence. Indonesia herself is challenged by religious radicalism, vertical splitting between the prospering upper society and the rest that feels left behind, and the sinking of her democracy into corrupt oligarchy. This essay argues that these challenges can only be successfully faced if Indonesia takes ethical commitments that are not negotiable. In order to show that these commitments should be based on Pancasila the essay first explains how at Indonesia’s beginning Pancasila succeeded in solving the most serious challenge Indonesia faced: How to unite her hundreds of ethnic, cultural and religious communities. With Pancasila Indonesia based herself on the fundamental social-ethical convictions these communities owned together. But Pancasila not only expresses the traditional values of Indonesia’s communities, but, and this is crucial, is open for the five most fundamental convictions of post-traditional political ethics: Religious freedom, fundamental human rights, nation state, democracy and social justice. The now critical demand that we should live in a way that does not destroy nature can be accomodated in the second principle of Pancasila, ”just and civilized humanism”: We should behave in a civilized way not only towards other humans, but also towards nature. The essay then specifies what commitments are implicated by Pancasila. Keeping to these commitments the challenges of the 21th century can be handled.