Swimming For The Nation From The Late Prof. Dr. Subroto

Prof. Dr. Subroto, a former Minister of Mines and Energy for 10 years in the New Order era, died at the age of 99 in Jakarta on December 20, 2022. (Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources)

JAKARTA Watching corrupt behavior become increasingly rampant and seems to have become part of the current 'culture', for Prof. Dr. Subroto, is the most sad thing. Indicating that Indonesia has moved too far, deviated from the noble values that have been formulated by the founding leaders of the nation.

Determination of the goals stated in the opening of the 1945 Constitution, as well as ignoring the values of Pancasila as the basis of the state. The spirit of reform that was echoed did not bring much benefit to the welfare of the community.

Parents seem to prefer to show conflicts fighting for power rather than set an example in fighting for roles, collaborating with each other in building a just and prosperous nation for the younger generation.

Even more sad, the political system that should have given birth to leaders in various levels of society and various fields, is now easier to produce corruptors.

"What disease are we suffering from?" said Subroto in his book Indonesia in his mind.

He diagnosed Indonesia as experiencing a crisis. The first is a leadership crisis.

Indonesia needs a national leader who is able to lift every element of strength in society to grow and develop, be able to cooperate, and be able to actively become development implementing actors.

Especially are elements of society that are at the bottom of the pyramid. In fact, to them the nation's economy depends. They are farmers, fishermen, forest farmers, micro and small entrepreneurs.

"The national leaders we need are those who have the heart to strengthen poor farmers and fishermen, support as much as possible micro and small entrepreneurs to be able to develop their production capabilities," wrote Subroto.

Developing an education system that encourages the nation's children to become creators, innovators, encourages the nation to become a production force, not just a consumptive target for other countries.

Indonesia should not be proud to be an importing nation that is only the target of the market. Indonesia must be active and also determine the direction of the world economy. This is what makes the country strong and not easily swayed by the desire of the world," said Subroto.

If that cannot be realized, Indonesia will not be able to be independent in meeting the food needs of its people. The fate of small farmers, fishermen, and micro-enterprises is increasingly suffering. It is not impossible, in the future, no younger generation will be interested in entering the field of agriculture, livestock, and fisheries in the country.

The final result of all of this is the increasing dependence on us as food importers. This situation will roll like a snowball, we become a nation that is getting weaker because of such a large dependence on providing food for the people themselves. Likewise what happens in other production aspects," he said.

Even worse if the country leadership is unable to provide character and knowledge for today's young generation. The demographic bonus will turn into a disaster. Unemployment increases. The state budget is sucked in to support the burden of the people with low productivity. Indonesia will only become a country that provides labor with low wages.

For this reason, a deeper understanding is needed in determining the criteria for ideal leaders. Integrity, having a clear vision in the future, and taking sides as much as possible for the benefit of the people, nation and state as the main capital. The community must be selective in choosing a candidate for leader.

"If most of us do not have sufficient understanding, then we will easily be confused by the practice of selecting leaders who aim to be pragmatic, only for the sake of a moment and their orientation is to gain power, to take the greatest advantage of the position in power for themselves and their own groups," Subroto said.

The second diagnosis is the constitutional crisis. Please elaborate and dig further every word and paragraph of the contents of the Preamble to the 1945 Constitution, including the last section containing Pancasila grains. This, said Subroto, is like a beacon that provides a clear direction for the formation of the Indonesian state.

Unfortunately, the greatness of the 1945 Constitution as the state constitution has changed significantly through amendments from 1998 to 2002. Subroto did not deny, indeed there are a number of changes that are perfecting the 1945 Constitution.

However, there are also some changes that fundamentally actually cause the nation to fall into an ideological crisis, chaos in the political system and state administration, and misguided in economic implementation.

The results of a series of amendments to the 1945 Constitution show that we no longer side with the values that are upheld on the basis of the Pancasila state, but rather lead to glorifying the values of individualism. Contrary to the spirit of togetherness and social justice," said Subroto.

See how the amendments to the 1945 Constitution Article 33 regulates how to organize the nation's economy. Initially, this article provided a basis and direction for the development of the nation's economy for the greatest prosperity of the Indonesian people. To strengthen these verses, it was explained further in the explanation of the 1945 Constitution so that the interpretation and basis of the nation's economic implementation became sharper.

However, through amendments, Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution, which originally consisted of 3 verses, increased to five verses. An additional paragraph of one reads, "The national economy is held based on economic democracy with the principles of togetherness, efficiency with justice, environmental insight, independence, and by maintaining a balance of progress and national economic unity."

"This people have entered the technical aspect of implementing the national economy, it is no longer the basis for economic implementation. In this technical aspect, elements of efficiency with justice' can conceptually have different meanings, especially if the two principles are just aligned," said the former Minister of Mines and Energy at the New Order era.

Efficiency is often understood as a measurable quantitative concept in the economy. The main sects in assessing economic efficiency emphasize the government's influence and market influence. If efficiency is fair, it means fair to the government, market players, or for whom?

The next fatal thing, according to Subroto, was the fourth amendment in 2002. Deleting all explanations of the 1945 Constitution. Explanations are no longer considered as part of the body trunk, including an explanation of Article 33.

Not to mention the structure of the state's highest power holder. The amendment to the 1945 Constitution gives a very large position to the multiparty system to hold power.

"I don't mean to say that the 1945 Constitution that we used was completely immune to change and was considered perfect. Of course not," said Subroto.

The things that need to be realized and regretted are that these changes do not come from the introduction and excavation of values, cultural roots, and wisdom of Indonesia as an independent and independent nation. It seems that it is carried out in a hurry and only plagiarizes from other countries.

This is what causes the current Constitution to be more detrimental than benefiting the nation.

Therefore, what we need to do immediately is review the amendments to the 1945 Constitution and perfect it to be more in line with the values and cultural roots of our nation. What prioritizes togetherness, partiality to the interests of the maximum welfare of society, towards the nation's ideals of realizing social justice for all Indonesian people," Subroto emphasized.

The man who was born in Solo, September 19, 1923 died on December 20, 2022 at around 16.25 WIB. Goodbye Prof. Dr. Subroto.