06/20/2019 Indonesia (International Christian Concern) – According to Indonesian Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu, the official philosophical foundation of Indonesia promoting pluralism, is gradually losing support. As radical ideologies seeking to establish a caliphate begin to gain more support among the Indonesians, the state ideology comes under threat.
At an event held yesterday at the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) headquarters in East Jakarta, the minister said, “Now, Pancasila is starting to get corroded. It won’t be too much of a problem today, but [it might be] in the next 20-30 years. If we let this happen, the leaders of tomorrow might still be a college student now, but if the person becomes a president, army commander, or police chief, and they adopt the caliphate, it would be the end of this nation.”
A study from his ministry found that a significant segments of Indonesian society are questioning Pancasila. About 23.4 percent of university students agree with the idea of jihad to establish an Islamic state or caliphate. About 23.3 percent of students also say they prefer the latter.
Other groups of people in the private industry, civil workers, and those working in state-owned enterprises also have the same sentiment. The study also revealed that 9.1 percent of the people who were asked disagrees with the Pancasila ideology.
“There is roughly three percent and there are soldiers in the military who disagree with the Pancasila. This is devastating,” said Ryamizard who fears the decline of respect for Pancasila will drag the nation into a situation that afflicts the Middle East.
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