REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, By : Soedibyo *)
The Government of The Republic of Indonesia is conducting a special training called “To Save the Country.” This training is conducted by The Ministry of Defense participated by a number of young generation both men and women. A number of reactions have been appeared in the society questioning what the objectives of this training are. Is Indonesia facing a great war and needs a big number of reserve soldiers? The short assessment bellow is an effort to understand what the real objectives of this Program are.
Many leaders of the Republic of Indonesia today are seriously concerning the condition of the mental attitude of the young generation especially in term of the Indonesian nationalism. Modernization, internationalism, regionalism and the character of economic challenges have indicated to erase strongly the condition of nationalism of among so many new generations in Indonesia. Is it a serious problem? Definitely yes, it is a great challenge for the leaders of Indonesia who have the responsibility to save the country.
What is the so called Indonesian nationalism?
Since July 5, 1959 it was declared that The Republic of Indonesia will be ruled based on the Constitution of 1945. The Constitution of 1945 has been considered as the original law of The Republic of Indonesia which constituted in 1945 after Indonesian Independence was declared in August 17, 1945 by Sukarno and Hatta who were then promulgated as the first President and Vice President of The Republic of Indonesia.
The Constitution of The Republic of Indonesia of 1945 had been amended in the year of 2002 up to 2004. The output of the amendment is popularly called The Constitution of The Republic of Indonesia of 2002 officially used today. However The Preliminary of the Constitution of 1945 totally and completely and also the essence of all 37 Articles of The Constitution of 1945 are being adopted by The Constitution of The Republic of Indonesia of 2002.
The Constitution of 1945 is consisted in three important parts, namely first The Preliminary, second part is The Articles consists of 37 Elements and the third part is The Deliberation of the Articles.
The first part of the Constitution of 1945 namely Te Preliminary has been considered as the most important part of the Constitution. In this Preliminary it is clearly stated what are the objectives of the Independence Nation of Indonesia as a Nation both within the country of Indonesia and as a part of the international community.
The Preliminary has been deliberately stated the basic philosophy which should be applied by the State and Country of The Republic of Indonesia which was constituted since the Declaration of Independence of Indonesia in August 17, 1945. In the reality the basic philosophy of The People of Indonesia and the basic law used to rule the Republic of Indonesia were clearly stated in this Preliminary. The main points of the Philosophy are Believe in One Supreme God, Humanism based on Civilized and Equality, Indonesian Unity, Democracy based on Consensus achieved in a Meeting and Cooperation of among the authorized Representatives and finally Prosperous Equality for the Whole People. In conclude The Preliminary of the Constitution of 1945, clearly describing the character of the Indonesian Nationality or Indonesian Nationalism.
The Second Part of the Constitution of 1945 is a group of 37 Articles concerning the Sectors of Life of both Indonesia as a Country and a nation. It is very common that one of the important sectors of Life of a Country and Nation is a Defense Matter as a mean to Save the Country. In the article on Defense Matter it is stated that The Armed Forces of The Republic of Indonesia consists of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. In this article it is also stated that every citizens are compulsory to save the country. It is important to note that the article on Defense Matter does not state that all citizens should join the Armed Forces, whether as a member of the Army, Navy or the Air Force. It is clearly stated that all Indonesian Citizen are compulsory to Save the Country, but it is not compulsory to become Soldier, Sailor or Airman. Philosophically the statement saying that all the Indonesian Citizens are compulsory to join in the Agenda of to Save the Country, but it does not necessarily mean the people have to join the Armed Forces to Defense the Country, but all the Indonesian Citizens should have strong Nationalism and to join any activity to Defense the Country if the situation needed. The struggle to save the Country can be done through the Armed Forces and also through the respective job of the Citizens.
As we clearly understand since the Second World War II, the nature of War was not just the battle between two military units of any hostile country; the War has been a total War, in which all sectors of life were committed. In the Defense Sector concurrently we need not only Soldiers, Sailor or Airmen, but we need also Medical Doctors, Technical Engineer and even Social Scientist. These groups of citizens are not necessarily to become Soldier, Sailor or Airman, but clearly they should have also strong Indonesian Nationalism struggling against the enemy using their respective professionalism. The Doctrine of Total War is clearly a war exploiting all sectors of life of the nation.
Indonesian Nationalism during the New Order Period was clearly described as Pancasila Ideology and National Development Program. To make all the Indonesian citizens understand it the Government put the Agenda to strengthen the Nationalism through National Program of P-4, an Indonesian abbreviation of “Program Penghayatan dan Pengamalan Pancasila” (The Program to Absorb Strongly and consequently to apply the National Ideology of Pancasila in the whole of Life of Indonesian People).
Unfortunately this Agenda was erased after the Collapse of the New Order Regime . There is no more P-4 today, but a certain national leaders among others the late Mr. Taufik Kiemas when he was chaired as the Chairman of The People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) he had initiated to compile four main element of the Indonesian Nationalism and described it as the Four Important Pillar of the Country and the State of The Republic of Indonesia.
According to the Leaders of the People’s Consultative Assembly the Four Pillars of the Indonesia Nationalism are namely first The Pancasila Ideology, second The (Preliminary) of the Constitution of 1945, Third The Unity of State of The Republic of Indonesia and Fourth the National Cohesiveness described as described by Bhineka Tunggal Ika. The effort to socialize the Philosophy on Indonesian Nationalism compiled by the Leaders of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) under the late Mr Taufik Kiemas has been likely continued by the Leaders of the Peole’s Consultative Assembly of today. Mr Oesman Sapta, Vice Chairman of the present People’s Consultative Assembly many times stated his concern about the weakness of the Nationalism of among the Young Generation.
Recently a certain approar has errupted just because of the Program launched by the Ministry of Defense under the leadership of Mr Ryamizard Ryacudu, who ordered to hold a special training named The Training of “To Save The Country”. Some opposition has appeared, because people tend to describe the Defense Ministry Program on “To Save The Country” is a military training to support the Armed Forces Development Program.
Conclusion
The Defense Ministry Training Program on “To Save the Country” is likely should be clarified by The President. The Defense Ministry Training Program on “To Save the Country” should be clearly described as Philosophical and Mental Education Program; it is not a Defense or Military Program. This Program had been initiated by the Ministry of Defense but it does not necessarily mean a Military Agenda. Unfortunately the Nationalism is stressed by the Constitution of The Republic of Indonesia in Article on Defense Matter.
The agenda of the Ministry of Defense on this Training Program on “To Save the Country” should be likely discussed again by the Cabinet, stressing that this is not military program but a Program on Paving the Nationalism Education among Young Generation.
Now the first training Program on “To Save the Country” has been running. It is clearly the Ministry of Defense does not want to articulate the curriculum used in the training as the military training similar to the basic military training for the Reserve Military Unit. It is clear the Ministry of Defense wishes to hold the Training as an Agenda to strengthen Nationalism among the young generation.
Indonesian nationalism is clearly a big challenge for the Indonesian to perform in facing the developing world which was strong in the idea of modernization, international cooperation and economic cooperation based on regionalism and last but not least is the influence of liberalism and individualism. The agenda of Ministry of Defense to hold a Training Program on “To Save the Country” is correct in term of substance and its objective, but maybe it is just needed clarification to neutralize any misunderstanding among the society and also international community.
*) The writer is a former Chief of State Intelligent Coordination Board (BAKIN)
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