In her dissertation entitled Begawi Cakak Pepadun in the Ontology Perspective of Anton Bakker: Relevance to Indonesia’s Character, Shely Cathrin, S.Fil., M.Phil at Faculty of Philosophy UGM on Tuesday (29/8) said that Begawi is a customary procession of Lampung that is carried out to get social status change as customary leaders.
"The problem was that not all Lampung people understand the meaning of this tradition, so it is feared that wrong understanding will arise of the meaning,” said Shely, Psychology lecturer at Universitas Mercu Buana, Jakarta.
According to Shely, ontology in Bagawi Cakak Pepadun allows changes that leans towards character development of Indonesian nation that has the need to maximise their identity. The ontology of Bakker is chosen as it has chronological explanation on ontology matters, hopefully this can be the right view to analyse the Begawi Cakak Pepadun.
"This dissertation aims at describing the customary ritual of Begawi Cakak Pepadun, formulating the philosophical meaning of Begawi Cakak Pepadun of Lampung culture, formulating analysis of Begawi Cakak Pepadun ontological dimension in the perspective of Anton Bakker ontology and reflecting it in the Indonesian character," she said.
On the relevance to the character development of Indonesia, said Shely, autonomous dimension and relations in Begawi contain the balance of individual and social aspects of human being where the first principle of ontology in the Begawi Cakak Pepadun is co-existence. The tradition is done because of existence, for existence, and for the sake of existence of Lampung people in its customary community.
"The co-existence underlies the identity of the Lampung people. So, the society is expected to be able to find values and aspirations that applies the same and equally in the Begawi Cakak Pepadun," said Shely.
Shely reinstated the character development of Indonesian nation is the responsibility of the individual, community, and government. To be able to feel comfortable and safe in the world, the society is expected to understand the world entirely.
"The society needs not to keep silent accepting things that are given to them, they need to play active roles in their surroundings, especially the Indonesia nation," she said.