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Indonesia's Statist Ideology



As the importance of east Asia (not just China and/or Japan) in the global picture increases, it may behoove is to learn a little something about Pancasila.

That is an Indonesian term, derived from Old Javanese words for "five" and "principles." It has become a political philosophy central to discourse in that country.

The principles are:


  • Belief in the One and Only God;
  • A just and civilized humanity;
  • The unity of Indonesia;
  • Representational democracy as an expression of collective wisdom, and
  • Social Justice for all Indonesians. 

Sukarno presented these principles in a speech on June 1, 1945, when the war in Europe was over and the end of the war in Asia, too, was in sight. 

Sorry to sound neocolonialist and all that, but ...

is that list of principles as vacuous as it sounds?  
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Comments

  1. HemantAugust 15, 2020 at 6:35 AM

    Both the words 'Panca' and 'Shila' originate in Sanskrit. 'Panca', for 5, is cognate to 'Pyach' in Russian and possibly to 'Peyde' in Greek. As for the compound term 'Pancashila', it is a very, very old concept in Buddhism:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_precepts

    ReplyDelete
  2. unknownAugust 20, 2020 at 10:07 AM

    Do you know who the top 10 richest indian billionaires are?

    ReplyDelete

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