Portalbangsa.id – Identity becomes an issue when it is packed in a spirit of exclusiveness and used as a tool to win democratic contestation.
Even more worrisome is when the rush of political competition that usually happens only among the elites, also occurs at the grassroots level.
Democracy, which is intended to bring the spirit of equality, indirectly evokes political issues and disputes among citizens, such as those pertaining to hate speech and blasphemy.
Therefore, this poignant situation should be addressed wisely to avoid conflict in the wider community, especially if this conflict is based on structural problems, which are latent and difficult to stop and mitigate.
The structural conflict itself is a conflict that begins with class divisions and hegemonic relations; the hegemonic positions that justify the action of alienation-discrimination-exploitation-repression to maintain the existing hierarchy by the ruling group or to destroy it by the oppressed group, according to the scholar Thomas Matyok.
Electoral competition, which can lead to the destruction of the state and public order, should prompt us to look back at Pancasila as a consensus, social contract and pillars of the nation.
One of the important points to consider about Pancasila comes from Yudi Latif, who explains that “Indonesianism” is defined as the total sum of fragments of identity that exists in our country. It has a fraction of religion, ethnicity, social class, etc.
To put it briefly, Pancasila is the grand ideology of social inclusion. We need to return to the values of Pancasila.
Written by:
M. DUDI HARI SAPUTRA, MA.
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