Philosophies of Pancasila

The content of the philosophy has been changeably interpreted by different philosophers. Pancasila has been an object of philosophical discourse since 1945 onwards. The Pancasila philosophers continually reinterpreted the content, so that its meaning varied from time to time. The following are chronological analyses of the content of philosophies of Pancasila.

The Founding Fathers’ philosophy

The first draft of Pancasila was formulated by Sukarno (Nationalism, Internationalism, Representative Democracy, Social Justice and Belief in the One and Only God), delivered on June 1, 1945 before the Investigating Committee for the Preparation for Independence (Indonesian: Badan Penyelidik Usaha Persiapan Kemerdekaan (BPUPK), without the word "Indonesia" . The second draft of Pancasila was formulated in the "Jakarta Charter" by the Committee of Nine (Panitia Sembilan) (Sukarno, Muhammad Hatta, Muhammad Yamin, Alexander Andries Maramis, Ahmad Subardjo, Ki Hadikusumo. Wachid Hasyim, Agus Salim and Abikusno). Sukarno accepted the suggestion of the other members of the committee to change the "sequence" of Pancasila. The fifth Sila of Sukarno become the first Sila of the "Jakarta Charter" and the wording became "Ketuhanan dengan kewajiban menjalankan syariah Islam bagi pemeluk-pemeluknya" (Belief in Almighty God with the obligation for its Muslim citizens to carry out the Islamic law/Syari'ah). On August 18, 1945 the Committee for the preparation of Indonesian Independence changed the formulation of the first sentence of Pancasila by removing the words "with the obligation of its Muslims citizens to follow Syariah", so the first sila became "Ketuhanan Yang Maha Esa".

Sukarno’s philosophy

The first draft of the Pancasila philosophy was formulated by Sukarno on 1 June 1945.Sukarno always stated that Pancasila was the original philosophy of Indonesian origin, which he found out of the philosophical tradition taking roots in Indonesian history, including indigenous philosophical tradition, Indian-Hindu, Western-Christian, and Arab-Islamic traditions. 'Ketuhanan', to him, was originally indigenous and he is true, while 'Kemanusiaan' was inspired by Hindu concept of Tat Twam Asi, Islamic concept of fardhukifayah, and Christian concept of Hebs U naasten lief gelijk U zelve, God boven alles. Actually the first "Sila" of Sukarno is "Negara Kebangsaan" ("National State"/Nationalism") which later become the third "Sila","Persatuan"; The third "Sila" of Sukarno become the fourth Sila of Jakarta Charter/Preamble of Indonesian Constitution and the fifth Sila of Sukarno become the first Sila of Jakarta Charter and the Preamble of the Constitution. (Saafrudin Bahar et al.,1995 and Kusuma,2004). He finally explained that 'Keadilan sosial' was inspired by Javanese concept of Ratu Adil (The Just Lord), a messianic Javanese ruler who would set the people free from all kinds of oppression.

Suharto’s philosophy

In Suharto’s hands, the philosophy of Pancasila underwent what is called ‘indigenization’. All Western elements subsumed within Pancasila since 1945 were eradicated systematically by some groups of Pancasila philosophers, sponsored by Suharto through his Culture and Education Department (Depdikbud) in order to find out indigenous legacy (adat) which accords with Pancasila’s five basic teachings. ‘Ketuhanan’, ‘Kemanusiaan’, ‘Persatuan’, ‘Kerakyatan’, and ‘Keadilan Sosial’ were claimed by them as purely Indonesian notions of indigenous origin. They proved the teachings as indigenous by exploring and finding out adat legacies scattered out in provinces of Indonesia, such as adat social structure, adat literary products, adat religious teachings, and adat ethics. They succeeded enormously and their findings were used by Suharto to unite Indonesian people. Among the Pancasila philosophers sponsored by Suharto are Sunoto and R. Parmono. They both are also known as the pioneers of Indonesian philosophy studies. Suharto's concept of Pancasila was deeply ingrained in Javanese highly feudalistic and mystical political culture, which to some extent is incompatible with the more egalitarian and pragmatic political culture of the outer islands.