Pancasila: Indonesia’s 5 governing principles

The crest of Indonesia, the symbol displayed on all government buildings is the angry looking bird (the Javanese hawk eagle) with its wings outstretched. The bird holds between its claws a ribbon, with the statement, Bhinneka Tunngal Ika, Sanskrit for We are many but we are one. Indonesia has 17,000 islands and 180 ethnic groups.

Its a very challenging place to govern and getting everyone on the same page is difficult. Indonesia leaders have sought to foster a national identity by using the idea called Pancasila (5 principles). The 5 principles of Indonesian national identity are:

•1) Belief in 1 supreme God
•2) A just and civilized humanity
•3) Nationalism, the unity of Indonesia
•4) Democracy guided by the wisdom of unanimity arising from discussion (musjawarah) and mutual assistance (gotong royong)
•5) Social justice, the equality of political rights and the rights of citizenship, as well as social and cultural equality

Even with a homogenous society it would hard to get everybody to agree to these principles and with Indonesias diversity some people may not even understand them.

There have been advances in all these since the fall of Suharto in 1999. Every country has high ideals that often do not come to fruition. I guess stating the national ideals are a start.