By: Prof. Dr. Hamka Haq, MA
Precisely on June 1, 1945, Bung Karno delivered his legendary speech, which was historically recognized as the initial formulation of Pancasila.
After delivering the speech, the Chairman of BPUPKI, Dr. Radjiman, immediately formed a small committee of 8 (eight) members, then revised to 9 (nine) people by Bung Karno himself, with the task of compiling the Basic Formulation of the State by referring to Bung Karno’s speech.
The 9th Committee, led directly by Bung Karno, formulated Pancasila in the Jakarta Charter of June 22, 1945.
Then, after undergoing revision, Pancasila with the first precepts of the YME Ketuhnan was ratified on August 18, 1945 by the Preparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence (PPKI) which was also led by Karno.So starting from the speech, then becoming the Jakarta Charter, until the ratification of August 18, 1945, all at the pioneering of Bung Karno.
The dynamics of systematic changes in the order of the Pancasila precepts cannot be separated from the wisdom of Karno and the founders of the country which was decided by consensus and democratically.
De-soekarnoization
As a result of de-Soekarnoization in the New Order era, certain parties appeared who rejected June 1 as the birthday of Pancasila.
The reason is that the formulation of Pancasila on June 1, 1945, puts the divine precepts in fifth place, while the pancasila formulation passed on August 17, 1945 actually puts the precepts in the first place.
For such reasons, the New Order once banned the commemoration of June 1 as the Birthday of Pancasila.
But to prove that what is true is that Pancasila originated from Karno’s idea, Then President Soeharto together with the National Council of The 45th Batch on January 10, 1975 formed the Lima Committee consisting of Hatta, Ahmad Soebardjo, A.A. Maramis, Soenario, and Abdul Gafar Pringgodigdo, to examine the origin of Pancasila.
These names include Pringgodigdo as a notwrit, who is a living witness for the course of the BPUPKI trial.
The report of the Committee of Five was presented to President Soeharto by a delegation led by General Soerono on June 23, 1975, who explained that the origins of Pancasila were indeed proven to have originated from Karno’s speech in front of BPUPKI on June 1, 1945.
So the debate on this matter should be ended, because since the time of Suharto alone it has been clear with authentic evidence that Karno’s speech on June 1, 1945 was the milestone in the history of the birth of Pancasila.
The problem is, why did Karno put the precept of Nationality in the first order of the basis of the state he proposed, not the precept of the Godhead?.
For so long this matter has kept a puzzle for all of us until now.In fact, not a few of the historians, academics, politicians and mass organization figures, always misunderstand, and blame Karno, judging him as a secular thinker who does not heed the religious values that grow among the Indonesian nation.
Is it true that Karno sinned secularly because he placed Nationality in the first precept and the Godhead in the last precept?
For those who understand the textualist normative and view the precepts of the Godhead as very sacred, Karno must be considered secular.
They wanted the Lordship of One Night as the first precept on the grounds that the Lordship of True Source was the primacy of the other precepts.
This kind of understanding is widely embraced, especially among religious institutions.This has increasingly gained a place in the New Order era, along with efforts to systematically de-Soekarnoize in all respects, including the desire to eliminate the traces of Karno in the history of the birth of Pancasila.
They are trying to show that the digger of Pancasila is not actually Karno. Some even think that Karno’s speech on June 1, 1945, contains theological misdeeds, because it puts the divine precept on the last precept, not the first precept.
For this reason, many do not realize that the essence of our State is a nation state, not a Religious State. That the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) is built on the similarity of one Indonesian nation.It is not built on the basis of religious similarities or a belief in true source.
Bung Karno’s most basic thought is how to unite the plural society of Indonesia to feel as one nation. That’s why Karno made Nationality (Unity of Indonesia) as the main foundation for the Republic of Indonesia, until he placed it in the first precept.
The divine precept is a statement that all Indonesians must be godly according to their respective religions, not that they must unite in one religious belief.
For Karno, glorifying God does not always have to put His name at the beginning of a sentence.Isn’t it that in the holy texts of the Quran and the hadith itself, the name of God is sometimes placed at the end of sentences.Notice the text of the following verse: “Verily my prayers, my worship, my life and my death, all I leave to Allah the preserver of the universe.”(Q.S. al-An’am [6]: 162).This is a routine reading of Muslims when praying.
After all, in the Islamic creed, there is no provision for placing god’s name at the beginning of a sentence, for for to God all places and directions are His, He is at the beginning as well as at the end as He says: “He is the Beginning and the End, the Zhahir and the Bathin; and He is all-knowing of all things” (al-Hadid [57]: 3).In this case Karno chose his end, not his beginning
By studying and living the sacred texts above, in terms of aqidah, Karno is not secular and is not mistaken at all when placing the precepts of the Godhead in the last order of Pancasila.While from a philosophical point of view, Karno actually made the precepts of Godhead as the goal of life in the nation, final cause, or ultimate cause. Or strictly speaking, God is seen as the ultimate goal of citizens’ devotion to their nation and country.
This philosophy is very much in line with the philosophy of isra’ mi’raj experienced by the Prophet Muhammad SAW.That before he came to face Allah Almighty in the realm of uluhiyah, he first experienced social interaction on the face of the earth (alam basyariah). In this social interaction, Prophet SAW faced a social problem that Karno packaged into a nationality.So in the process of isra’ mi’raj , social interaction (nationality) precedes spiritual interaction before Allah Almighty.
The Meaning of the Precepts of the One True Godhead
It should also be noted that what is meant by the precepts of the Godhead is actually not a formalization of religion, because in terms of formality, religions in Indonesia are diverse, more than one, so it is very difficult to unite the Indonesian nation to live together in religious similarities.Or strictly speaking, the precepts of the Godhead of YME are not the basis for the unity of religions, but rather the foundation of the peace of religious people as one nation: namely the Indonesian nation.At the same time, it also shows that the Indonesian National State is a common home for religious people, in which they have the freedom to practice their religion according to their respective beliefs
It is in that time that the state functions to protect and nurture and facilitate religious people who are nota bene are its citizens, to practice their religion well.In this case the state deals with its citizens (religious people), in order to practice its religion in a civilized and tolerant manner.The state does not deal with the nature of religions which are the authority of God according to the beliefs of each religious person.
In short, because the core of the problem is the form of the National State, Karno in his speech on June 1, 1945 mentioned nationality as the main basis for the formation of the state. The Precepts of Nationality are what unite the Indonesian people whose various religions are from Sabang to Merauke, from time immemorial to the time of independence today.
In other words, on top of the diversity of religions, ethnicities, cultures and languages, the Indonesian people enjoy their togetherness as an Indonesian nation.
So the emphasis of the national precepts by Bung Karno in his speech was not at all religious harassment, but was a realistic strategic step, according to the socio-historical conditions of the nation, that only with national unity could the Indonesian people unite to establish an independent Indonesian State. Wallahu a’lam bi al-showabi.