Japan Congratulates Indonesia On Pancasila Day

Jakarta (Antara Bali)- Japan's Ambassador to Indonesia Yasuaki Tanizaki congratulated Indonesia on the birth of the state ideology of Pancasila on June 1, which the country commemorated on Wednesday.

Tanizaki congratulated Indonesia in conjunction with the 62nd anniversary of "Japan Self Defense Forces" at the  Hotel Indonesia Kempinski here on Wednesday night.

"President Joko Widodo today set June 1 as a national holiday, and associated with it, allow me to say  Happy Birthday Pancasila," the Japanese ambassador to Indonesia said.

On Wednesday, President Jokowi designated June 1, the birth of the state ideology of Pancasila, as a national holiday.

The head of state announced the new national holiday in his speech during the commemoration of Soekarno's June 1, 1945, Address in the Merdeka Building, here, Wednesday.

Soekarno had delivered the speech to mark the birth of Indonesia's state ideology a couple of months prior to the country's independence proclaimed on August 17, 1945.

First Lady Iriana, Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Puan Maharani, Minister/State Secretary Pratikno, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, and former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, who is the daughter of Indonesia's first president Soekarno, were among those present during the commemorative event.

Every year, on June 1, Indonesia commemorates the birth of the national ideology of Pancasila, which serves as the cohesive power of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI).

Looking back 71 years on June 1, 1945, during the assembly of the Investigating Committee for the Preparation of Indonesian Independence, one of Indonesia's founding fathers, Sukarno or better known as Bung Karno, had presented the idea of Pancasila to serve as the basis of the newborn republic.

Hence, Megawati Soekarnopurty, the fifth president of Indonesia, had emphasized that without Pancasila, NKRI would have never come into existence.

Even with Pancasila, Bung Karno, at the time, was able to initiate the unity of Asia-African countries, which held the first Asian-African Conference in the West Java provincial capital of Bandung in 1955.

For the people of Indonesia, Pancasila is a way of life, comprising basic principles that should be followed in order to realize a just and prosperous society. (WDY)