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Civis Vol. 2, No. 3, Dec 2010
As a result of amendment efforts, there were considerable changes to Section XIII of the 1945 Constitution. Originally titled “Education”, Section XIII header was changed into “Education and Culture”. The contents of Article 31 on Education and Article 32 of the Cultural likewise underwent significant changes. The changes occurred in the Fourth Amendment, and were ratified in the People’s Consultative Assembly Annual Session in 2002.
Article 32 of the 1945 Constitution originally read “The Government promotes the national culture of Indonesia.” The Amendment turned it into:
(1). The state shall advance Indonesia’s national culture among the civilizations of the world by guaranteeing the freedom of the people to maintain and develop cultural values.
(2). The state shall respect and preserve the languages in the regions as national cultural treasures.
The drafters of the 1945 Constitution amendment recognize the important role of culture in the formation of the Indonesia’s identity and community in particular, and for national modernity and progress in general. In connection to this it is concluded that the development of Indonesian culture is the responsibility of the State, not only the government but also the community. The Amendment also underlines that the identity of Indonesia as embodied in Bhinneka Tunggal Ika should be preserved. Unity (Ika) should always exist alongside Plurality (Bhinneka).
This constitutional basis of state policy, as stated in the new Article 32 of the 1945 Constitution, thus serves as a reference point for the government and society in developing an Indonesian culture that is based on national diversity, and one that is receptive towards the ongoing development of the world’s civilization and in accordance with the values of Pancasila.
Our Culture
Culture is not just a matter of art and literature. Its understanding is very broad and diverse, but its essence can be summed up as the system of values, norms, ideas, and ideas that are alive and used by citizens to interact with their environment, both physical and social.
Culture gives shape to the citizens’ life attitude, mental attitude, and daily life patterns. In turn, attitudes and lifestyles also give shape to culture. Culture is studied by the society, and is constantly adapting and developing.
Through observation, it appears there exist communities and nations that have rich and admired cultures. Art development, creativity and innovation become a part of life in such cultures. In such context, the people’s mental attitude in general appreciates hard work and achievements, as well as openness and tolerance. But there are also people culture who seems to be completely the opposite, being closed and intolerant. Art seems to be suffering, mental attitude is decaying, and there seems to be a prevalent tendency among the population to merely focus on maximizing profits without really wanting to expend congruent efforts in exchange.
These two poles of culture do not come into being on their own. There is a cause and effect relationship between various factors that influence the development of culture, consciously or unconsciously. Because culture is ever changing and ever adapting, it would require a conscious effort for the Indonesian culture to positively progress.
Indonesia has 237 million inhabitants living in 11 000-an island out of the nation’s 17,504 islands. We have the 1128 tribes large and small, and 719 different languages that are still being actively used by the population. All major world religions exist in Indonesia, together with a number of indigenous belief. Our urban population live in a modern environment but others still live in a traditional transitional environment. Therefore, the culture of Indonesian society in general can now be classified as a transitional society (prismatic). The elements of modernity exist within it, but traditional elements still have their place, albeit receding. This is indeed happening and complex change interactions within each group and within the entire community is in full force.
Our Cultural Development
In this era of rapid globalization and advances in information technology, an organic society as described above, if not prepared to manage change, can easily has its cultural roots removed and replaced by a uniform, McDonald-type or CocaCola-type culture. Amidst such atmosphere, the decadence in all areas such as materialism and hedonism can also easily occur.
But on the other hand, positive values, such as hard work, respect for achievement, openness, tolerance, creativity, innovativation, and competitiveness can also get the chance to take root and grow. Herein lies the importance of a cultural development policy for our culture to grow and enrich itself with positive values, while screening out negative values.
The Constitution affirms that cultural development is based on the wealth of local culture, and the awareness of the significance of our culture among world civilization.
The Constitution also states the symbols of the nation, which are: State flag Sang Saka Merah Putih, State Coat of Arms Garuda Pancasila with the motto Unity in Diversity, and the National Anthem “Indonesia Raya”. These symbols have the role of anchor or pivot upon which the national culture is developed.
Local cultures have a long history and have their own wisdom and superiority. Within them, the cultures contain elements which the founding fathers extracted in the name of Pancasila. Local cultures that consciously develop in an atmosphere of openness, will be dynamic and be able to seek realization in a changing environment while simultaneously contributor to the formation of patterns (systems) community in which very diverse society can live together.
Norms, ideas, values, and attitudes that are perceived as commonly owned will crystallize will be used as a pattern of living community, as a collective identity. A sense of cultural progress will also increase with an awareness of the culture’s place among world civilization. This awareness will result in an inter-connection and mutual influence with foreign cultures which in turn will heighten global civility and respect for humanity.
Such national culture that develops out of pluralism and openness will fertilize a dynamic culture, ever-growing, and in turn supports the growth of both material culture (such as machinery, buildings, inventions and other concrete material forms), as well as non-material culture (such as art, science, etc.). Any manifestation of a culture that is accepted and shared becomes part of the national culture. Our culture will never be inferior culture, uniform, rigid, and stagnant.
Language is a form of culture that expresses thoughts and feelings, to interact and adapt in group togetherness. Through language, precious knowledge is learned and developed. Every language is also a record of the cultural journey of that language users. A preserved regional language will support the development of local culture and will also enrich the unifying national language, Bahasa Indonesia. The fighters who are our ancestors, the originator of Youth Pledge, were very wise to have chosen Bahasa Indonesia, the language that came from the Malays which were not widely adopted at the time, as the national language. This selection is firmly grounded in the essence of Unity in Diversity, since it debunked the myth of any pre-existing desire to dominate.
Indonesian language that is rooted first in Malay from the Riau, East Sumatra and Malaya peninsula, has continued to put more distance from its original ancient form. Bahasa Indonesia has been and is highly enriched by regional languages and also by foreign languages, to the extent that Bahasa Indonesia has become the language of inter-ethnic region (the lingua franca of Indonesia) as well as being able to develop as a language of science. Indonesian language evolving in such a way will continue to be a strong factor of national unity which glues together a very diverse nation.**
Drs. Jakob Tobing, MPA
President, Leimena Institute
Jakob Tobing is one of the most prominent architects of the new democratic Indonesia. He played an instrumental role in Indonesia’s transition from the authoritarian rule to democracy in 1998. He was then entrusted as the Chairman of the 1999 National Election Committee and the 1999-2004 Parliamentary Commission on the Constitutional Amendment – the two important bodies that decisively replaced authoritarianism with democracy in Indonesia. Under his leadership, the constitutional amendment has guaranteed the principles of democracy, rule of law, and human rights, which is now seen as a model by many other countries. He was a student leader against the old order in 1966, appointed as member of parliament in 1968, and became the Vice Chairman of the ruling party during the Suharto’s regime. But during the height of the authoritarian regime, he joined the opposition and was invited to join and establish the reform PDIP party by its Chairman Megawati Soekarnoputri, who later became the President of Indonesia. President Habibie decorated him with Mahaputera Utama medal in 1999. After more than three decades as a member of parliament, in 2004 he was appointed as the Indonesian Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, a leadership role which again he performed so outstanding that the Republic of Korea awarded him the Gwanghwa medal—the country’s highest diplomatic award. He received his graduate degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA.