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IL News 011/2014
Surabaya (East Java), May 30th, 2014
To participate in educating the students at Petra Christian University to love the nation, Leimena Institute gave a public lecture on “The Idea of Indonesia and the Amendement of the 1945 Constitution”, in partnership with the university. The public lecture was held on Friday, May 30th, 2014, and was attended by around 250 students who took the course on Pancasila from various departments of the university. The program was hosted by the General Course Departement and opened by its Chairman, Adi Wibowo, ST, MT.
In his lecture, Matius Ho from Leimena Institute explained the development of the modern idea of Indonesia embedded in the first paragraph of the 1945 Constitution’s Preamble, such as the idea of independence as every nation’s right, of humanity, and of justice. The modern idea shaping Indonesia was highly influenced by the political development around the world, for example the US Declaration of Independence, French Revolution, Woodrow Wilson’s self-determination right, Dutch Colonial’s Politics of Ethic, and youth movement both in the Netherlands and Indonesia. The chain of these historical events was described in an attractive presentation.
The lecture was continued by Budi Setiamarga who discussed the importance of the amendment of the 1945 Constitution for Indonesia’s better future, because the amandment aligned the Constitution’s articles to the Constitution’s Preamble. The background and impact of the amandment were explained, for example in relation to the presidential election system. Before the amendment, the sovereignty was on the state and the President was elected by the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR). After the amendment, the sovereignty was returned to the people, so that the people could vote directly for the President. Therefore, the people’s active participation in the presidential election has become very important. Every vote counts.