An Indonesian Ideological Lexicon

Abstract

Indonesia is perhaps more committed than any country in Asia to the creation of political euphonious summations that symbolize and seek to define the character of Indonesian organizational life and political ideology. Freqeuntly invented by President Sukarno or other figures, these slogans have a clear charismatic purpose; leaders constantly hold them before the as the country gropes for unity under present conditions of political and economic instability. At the same time, the concepts embodied in the acrostics reflect much of the officially sanctioned Indonesian public philosophy to which everyone is expected to subscribe and, in these terms, merit consideration in any analysis of the Indonesian political and cultural scene. The following list of terms is by no means exhaustive, but the more important items in the current official ideological vocabulary have been included. Pantjasila. Derived from the Sanskrit (many words of which have been incorporated into the Indonesian language), and meaning the Five Pillars (of the state), Pantjasila is the oldest and, until recently, the most important and most popular of the slogans embodying the official state philosophy. Deeply rooted in Sukarno's political thought, the substantive content of Pant jasila was possibly inspired by Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People (nationalism, democracy and people's livelihood). The term itself is related to the five moral precepts (Panch Shila) of Buddhism. Pant jasila was formulated sometime during the Japanese occupation of Indonesia, and given an official blessing by Sukarno in an address to Indonesian nationalist leaders on June 1, 1945, preparing them for the independence of the country. In this address, Sukarno referred to the need for an Indonesian Weltanschauung, as he put it, and described nationalism, internationalism (now often referred to as humanitarianism), representative government, social justice, and belief in God as the principles of the state. These five principles can be reduced to three, a TT isila, according to Sukarno (socio-nationalism, sociodemocracy and belief in God) or even to one, an Ekasila, namely gotong royong (mutual cooperation).-' Propagated for many years as the official state philosophy, Pantjasila became primarily a rallying point for those committed to a non-Islamic state, especially in 1958-59 when the Indo-