“PANCASILA” is not Communism

Communism and New Left

a. History of Communism

Leftish or communist has long been perceived as a threat to the sovereignty and the unity of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI). During Soekarno era, leftish or the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) was also considered as a threat because that time the political power of the leftish group could not be underestimated since they involved all elements of society from the farmer to college students. However, in the development, the leftish movement then posed a real threat especially in late 1965 with the murder of some generals on the night of 30 September to early morning of 1 October which was then interpreted as PKI coup. Since then, PKI was dissolved by the Army and General Soeharto.

The history also explained that the PKI rebellion in Madiun was the culmination of the betrayal by the communists in the period of 1945 – 1948. There had been a power struggle in 1945 in the Republic of Indonesia by the communists, dubbed as The Battle of Three Regions, namely in Tegal, Brebes, and Pemalang. But these could be stopped and ended by the Army of the Republic, so that the security situation could be restored by the Government of the Republic of Indonesia.

b. New Left

The New Left is a political movement in the 1960s and 1970s, especially in Britain and the United States, which was followed by educators, agitators and others. This thought was inspired by the desperate revolt of the poor and the Negro due to luxury lifestyle showcased by the white men. However, the movement was different from the Marxist movement whose approach was focusing on social justice and labor unions. In its development, the New Left movement rejected the involvement with the labor movement and the history of Marxist theory of class struggle. This movement believed in freedom and democracy. It can be concluded that the new left is the development of traditional Marxist ideology.

Currently, the New Left movement struggles not against feudalism and the ruling classes, nor the economic situation under the industrial society, but rather the preservation of human personality and humanity facing a “dictatorship” forces that cannot be solved and always present, which tends to integrate and assimilate all the elements (including humans) into the system. Thus, the struggle today is recapturing respective personal autonomy. But in its development, this movement is more interested in social change rather than the establishment of society.

It can be concluded that Communism and the New Left movement have different nature and purpose. So, it can be assessed that understanding of “Communism” is still a real threat to the sovereignty of the Republic of Indonesia, given its history and the main objective which is nothing but to overthrow Pancasila as the state ideology of Indonesia. However, the society must remain vigilant against the values of the New Left as it can evolve to follow the movement of communist group or PKI.

 Differences between Pancasila and Communism

            There are fundamental differences between the ideology of Pancasila and Communism. On this regard, Pancasila values are extracted from the roots of Indonesian wisdom suggesting that the source of life is the God Almighty. Therefore the first sila (principle) of Pancasila is “Belief in the one and only God”, while communism believes that the source of life is the Historical Materialism.

The second sila, “Just and civilized humanity” portrays the togetherness in life to realize the harmony amongst individuals as a whole, which then creates an attitude of mutual cooperation as well as kinship and unity in diversity. Meanwhile, Communism does not give importance to the sovereignty of people, instead it expresses the need for dictatorship of the proletariat which is controlled by the Communist Party. The main priority is the establishment of the Communist Party and in particular those in charge.

Therefore, it seems quite clear that there are fundamental differences between Pancasila and Communism. These differences are increasingly sharper because Pancasila considers the importance of nationalism as expressed in the 3rd sila “the unity of Indonesia”. On the other hand, the communists consider that nationalism is not important at all and must be subordinated to International Communism, led by the former Soviet Union.

Threat to Ideology

The efforts to revive communist ideology in Indonesia lately have created many controversies as well as an increase of awareness to certain groups who are indicated following the values of communism or PKI like PRD, YPKP 1965, Partai Persatuan Pembebasan Nasional (Papernas), and several other groups. This is evident from the emergence of some actions rejecting the ideology of communism such as by Anticommunist Command Movement, consisting of Indonesian Anti-Communist Front (FAKI) and the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI).

Anti-Communist Command Movement is demanding the dissolution of Papernas because it was considered as embodying a new style of communism, thus against the MPR decree on the prohibition of the spread of Marxism and Leninism. In addition, they also rejected various activities that raised issues related to human rights abuse victims claimed by PKI or the spread of the values that lead to communism, especially the new style communism.

The rise of anti-communist movement should have brought around that there is no better ideology for Indonesia other than Pancasila because it reflects our normative values and represents the nation as a whole. Therefore, the Indonesian society must reject this communism firmly, given the values of communism value are fully on the contrary to the identity of the Indonesian nation.

Let us increase our participation in minimizing the spread of communist symbol and thoughts in society brought by the communist groups through advocacy, socialization, or other assistances to the society aiming to win the heart of the Indonesian people. Historically, the communist movement had created a deep wound for NKRI. What they did had resulted many life losses.

*) Almira Fadillah, A Graduate Student of Gunadharma University Jakarta