Ihsanuddin, Jakarta – President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo will not send a presidential letter (surpres) to the House of Representatives (DPR) signifying its agreement with deliberations on the Draft Law on Pancasila Ideology Guidelines (RUU HIP).
The government will also not interfere with draft laws which are purely the initiate of the DPR.
This was asserted by Widodo when he received a number of retired TNI (Indonesian military) and police officers at the Presidential Palace in Bogor, West Java, on Friday June 19.
“This (RUU HIP) is 100 percent an initiative from the DPR, so the government will not interfere in any way”, said Widodo as quoted on the official Cabinet Secretariat website Setkab.go.id.
The head of state explained that he does not know contents of the draft law and that the government always pays attention to the voices of the public.
The government has therefore decided that for now it will postpone and not issue a presidential letter.
“We already decided three days ago that we will postpone and not issue a surpres too soon”, said Widodo.
“So we also haven’t prepared a Problem Inventory List (DIM) because we don’t actually know what way this is heading because this is indeed entirely an initiative from the DPR”, he said.
Widodo also asserted that the government is fully committed to closing the door on communist ideas in Indonesia.
The legal umbrella for this is already clearly regulated in People’s Consultative Assembly Decree (TAP MPRS) Number 25/1966 and Law Number 27/1999.
“It’s already clear that the PKI [the Indonesian Communist Party] and all of its teachings are banned in our country. It think the government has no doubts about this”, said Widodo.
The Draft Law on Pancasila Ideology Guidelines has attracted a public polemic because it contains clauses on Trisila (three principles) and Ekasila (mutual cooperation) in one of the article, namely Article 7.
Many are of the view that changing the concept of the state ideology of Pancasila into Trisila and Ekasila is a betrayal of the nation and the country.
Notes
Provisional People’s Consultative Assembly Decree Number XXV/1966 on the Dissolution of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) and Prohibitions on Marxist, Leninist and Communist Teachings.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was “Tolak Bahas RUU HIP, Jokowi Tegaskan PKI Dilarang”.]
