TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Yogyakarta city council and city administration have allocated Rp1.4 billion to a program called Sinau Pancasila (literally translated as Learning Pancasila; Pancasila is the official philosophical foundation of Indonesia). The program will be rolled out this year.
Eko Suwanto, chairman of Commission A, Yogyakarta city council, said that the city council and National Unity and Politics Agency Yogyakarta have agreed to implement the Sinau Pancasila program in 78 sub-districts. “Sinau Pancasila program will feature discussions at sub-districts involving sub-district officials, teachers, and village officials,” he said on Monday, January 2, 2016.
Aside from Sinau Pancasila, as many as 300 Yogyakarta civil servants will participate in a special program on Pancasila.
Eko said that Sinau Pancasila program has been initiated following the establishment of Pancasila consolidation agency by President Joko Widodo at the end of December 2016. The move has been made in the wake of rising intolerance and violence across the globe that has adversely affected public solidarity and order. The agency is said to be established to combat terrorism, extremism, and radicalism.
Eko added that Yogyakarta administration wants to revive cultural pockets in villages. “Cultural pockets in villages are aimed at pushing down cases of violence in Yogyakarta, most of which involve students,” he said.
Yogyakarta-based cultural observer Whani Dharmawan said that the existence of cultural pockets will not be enough to tackle violence, adding that a bylaw would be needed to regulate it. “To achieve community-based cultural management.”
According to Whani, authorities have to tackle violence on social media, among others. Because, he said, social media is an easy way to incite violence due to the rapid spread of information.
PRIBADI WICAKSONO
