Oleh:
Alya Fitriani Sajida dan Zhafira Shifahana
JurnalPost.com – Multiculturalism is an ideology that advocates the unity of various cultural groups with equal rights and socio-political status. This concept recognizes and celebrates cultural differences such as values, customs, ethnicity, and religion within a society. Multiculturalism opposes monoculturalism and assimilation, which have been norms throughout history.
For the past few years, Indonesia has been undertaking the relocation of its national capital, which was originally situated on the island of Java in DKI Jakarta, to East Kalimantan, specifically in the North Penajam Paser Regency. It’s famous for the name IKN (Ibu Kota Nusantara). The relocation of the national capital will undoubtedly pose a challenge for the government. To some extent, several residents from Jakarta will move to the new capital, IKN, meaning that there will be an increased diversity of ethnicities, religions, and other backgrounds blending with the local population’s culture. People with different backgrounds may potentially experience conflicts due to their believed cultural differences. Therefore, the concept of multiculturalism should be able to prevent these conflicts from occurring.
With multiculturalism in place, each individual can feel a sense of belonging, meaning that they all share a common nationality, which is Indonesia. This helps minimize the occurrence of conflicts because they feel like they have one thing in common, and that is being a part of Indonesia National.
Pancasila is the foundational ideology of Indonesia that unites the diversity of the nation. All of the principles offer a rational concept to create national unity and diversity. Thanks to Pancasila as well, Indonesia was able to achieve its independence. When it was colonized, Indonesia was a country with many kingdoms, cultures, languages, and customs that were distinct from one another. However, during that time, the Indonesian government introduced Pancasila as the state ideology, aiming for all citizens to feel that despite their differences, they remained Indonesians. This action certainly played a crucial role in helping Indonesia attain its independence.
The Pancasila recognizes and respects the diversity of religions and beliefs in Indonesia and believes in the existence of God as the source of life and truth. Pancasila also promotes transparency, accountability, independence, nationalism, brotherhood, and togetherness in the government and society
Pancasila, which forms the basis of the Indonesian state, can also serve as a foundation for multicultural harmony in Indonesia’s new capital city due to its underlying values of unity, togetherness, tolerance, and mutual cooperation. The first principle of Pancasila refers to the respect for religions in Indonesia where everyone is free to have beliefs as they wish, the second principle emphasizes human rights and social justice, the third principle affirms the importance of unity and solidarity in the diverse backgrounds of Indonesian citizens such as different race, ethnicity, and religions, the fourth principle reflects the importance of every citizen’s voice and participation for democracy in Indonesia, and the last principle emphasizes the importance of social justice for all citizens, regardless of their racial, ethnic, religious background, or anything that differentiates.
Pancasila is built from the consensus of various different ideologies, all of which emphasize inclusivity in politics, economics, and society. This makes Pancasila a perfect embodiment of the concept of multiculturalism. In addition to serving as a foundation for multicultural harmony in IKN, Pancasila also plays an important role in the construction of the IKN project itself. The fifth principle “Social Justice for All Indonesian People” is applied in the IKN development plan because one of the reasons IKN is built is to equalize the distribution of infrastructure and public facilities and to stimulate economic growth in the IKN area. This is seen as a form of realization of the fifth principle of Pancasila which encourages social justice.
The future of Pancasila in the IKN context looks promising. As the foundational philosophy of Indonesia, Pancasila will continue to guide the development and governance of the new capital city. Pancasila’s future in the IKN environment appears bright, however successful Pancasila implementation in IKN requires ongoing effort and commitment. It will be critical to guarantee that the Pancasila ideals are not only theoretical concepts but are actively applied and reflected in people’s daily lives.