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Turning to Pancasila to Quell Violence
Camelia Pasandaran | April 28, 2011

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As social and religious conflict continues in the country, a discussion on the national ideology of Pancasila will begin next week focusing on the importance of living peacefully despite differences.

The discussions will be held at Gajah Mada University (UGM) in Yogyakarta from Monday through Tuesday. The event is a collaboration between the Constitutional Court, UGM and the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR).

Pancasila is the country’s philosophical foundation, and the unity of Indonesia is one of its five elements.

Leaders of the Constitutional Court and the MPR have blasted the government for either missing the rapid formation of extremist groups or worse, allowing it to occur.

“I question how the Indonesian Islamic State [NII] movement could grow and escape from detection. The government should give concrete answer to this,” said Mahfud MD, chief of the Constitutional Court.

The discussion, Mahduf said, is to find the root cause of why some Indonesians are moving away from the national ideology Pancasila that results in the weakening in the spirit of pluralism.

Scholars and about 500 people from civil society groups are expected to attend the talks, which will be broadcast nationwide.

MPR Deputy Chairman Lukman Hakim warned that the government should be firm in combating radicalism to prevent confusion among the people. “Don’t let the people think that the intelligence is slow in detecting extreme groups,” Lukman said.

“I’m concerned that the public distrust toward government institutions will continue to grow.”

Extremists have been behind a string of violence and attacks on the Ahmadiyah and churches have been also rampant.