Indonesia Approves Bill to Back Ideology

The Indonesian Parliament approved a bill Friday requiring virtually all political, religious and social groups to conform to the official state ideology known as Pancasila.

Pancasila (Five Principles) were the guiding tenets of the republic formulated when Indonesia attained independence in the 1940s and incorporated in the national constitution. They include belief in one God, humanitarianism, national unity, democracy and social justice. The so-called mass organizations bill, which has drawn strong protests from Muslims since it was proposed last year, was approved by a unanimous voice vote of 349 members and will become law when signed by President Suharto.

The bill requires organizations to formally accept within two years the state ideology of Pancasila. The legislation excludes the Boy Scouts, civil servants’ groups and business companies, but specifically includes religious and political organizations.

Power to Ban Groups

It also gives Suharto’s government sweeping powers to ban organizations considered dangerous to society or detrimental to the principles of Pancasila.

Protests by Muslim fundamentalists against the bill and the secular policies of the Suharto government have been cited as contributing to a wave of rioting, arson and bombings late last year.

Muslims, who comprise 90% of Indonesia’s 160 million people, expressed the strongest opposition, but representatives of the Catholic and Protestant churches also expressed reservations about the bill.

Supporters of Pancasila contend that the ideology is necessary to bind together Indonesia’s mixture of cultures and religions. Critics fear it is an attempt to raise Pancasila to the rank of an official religion. At the insistence of Muslim groups, an explanatory note was inserted stating that Pancasila is not and will never become a religion.

The chairman of the Legal Aid Foundation, Mulya Lubis, said the new law could threaten the existence of groups like his, which at times has to deal with government agencies in defending workers, farmers and the poor.

“We had insisted that the disbanding of any organization must be done through a court. It should not be decided by the government,” he said.