Hundreds of participants from various regions attended the 12th Pancasila Congress, which was held on Thursday (Sep. 26) at the Senate Hall, Central Office of Universitas Gadjah Mada.
This year’s congress carries the theme “Pancasila, the Soul of the Nation; Overcoming Moral Decline in the Practice of Nationhood and Statehood.”
The congress featured several expert speakers in the first session, including a political science lecturer from Universitas Airlangga, Dr. Airlangga Pribadi Kusman, UGM Philosophy lecturer Dr. Agus Wahyudi, and political observer Rocky Gerung. They discussed “The Concept of the Republic as an Ideal State Idea.”
Dr. Kusman stated that republicanism or res publica is government by the people for the people through a rational process. Therefore, political processes should utilize common sense and rational argumentation.
“In any public discourse, if someone speaks without reasoning, they are merely talking arbitrarily, even to the point of relying on authority. What needs to be done is to challenge those views, as they are opinions without arguments,” explained Dr. Kusman.
Dr. Wahyudi added that the republican concept aims to prevent and reduce the abuse of power. There must be ways to avoid abuse and power misappropriation.
According to him, as long as the people are invited to make decisions, participate, and show concern, the republic is in a healthy condition.
“A healthy democracy is when the people care; if they do not care, it means the republic is not healthy,” he explained.
For Rocky Gerung, Pancasila is a compilation of world thoughts. All world ideas are encapsulated there, thus forming a republic of ideas that guide the technical sciences beneath.
“Pancasila can be articulated theoretically with logical thinking,” he stated.
Gerung remarked that Pancasila was a pedagogical concept in the Sukarno era. However, in the Suharto era, it became a prerequisite for filtering political opponents.
“Pancasila is meant to foster dialogue, not be doctrinal,” he added.
Furthermore, during the reform era, many attempted to infuse Pancasila with “new content” due to issues of gender equality, environmental concerns, and disasters.
However, it faced reification, as it could not be discussed further. Recently, Pancasila has started to be used as a moral reference and a necessity for evaluating political ethics.
“What we are expressing now is to evaluate political ethics. UGM may still further interrupt today’s power dynamics, challenging the stability of politicians’ thinking; until now, no politician has been nurtured by thoughts. I believe it is relevant that politics should return to the campus. We need to ensure it becomes a practical idea and a guiding principle,” he concluded.
Author: Hanif
Editor: Gusti Grehenson
Post-editor: Afif
Photographer: Firsto