History Today, February 16, 1959: Mohammad Yamin Called Bung Karno The Only Authentication Pancasila Excavationer

Independence fighters who are also national figures, Mohammad Yamin. (Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA History today, 64 years ago, February 16, 1959, a national figure, Mohammad Yamin revealed that Soekarno was his fighting partner - the only authentic Pancasila digger. He made the statement at the Pancasila Seminar in Yogyakarta.

Previously, the narrative related to the brain behind Pancasila became a polemic. Some people think that Bung Karno is not the main digger of Pancasila. Pancasila is considered to have been told first by Yamin and Soepomo.

Life in exile did not completely kill the fighting spirit of national figures. That was what Bung Karno experienced when he was exiled in Ende, Flores. Bung Karno felt that Bung Karno had a tough initial life. Political power almost died. However, Bung Karno broke it down.

Life in Ende actually made him finalize the process of thinking. He was able to reflect on many things. From the matter of painting, theater scripts, to formulating the ideology or life views of the bumiputras. The formulation of the ideology was later widely known as Pancasila.

Bung Karno launched Pancasila on June 1, 1945. He described one by one what he meant. First, the nationality of Indonesia. second, internationalism or humanity. Third, consensus or democracy. Fourth, social welfare. Fifth, piety.

The Pancasila that Bung Karno said was able to bewitch the whole of Chuo Sangi Building in Pejambon, Jakarta. His speech was greeted with great fanfare. Moreover, Bung Karno's Pancasila received a positive response from all those present.

In his speech, my heart was shaking and seemed to say: this is what the assembly will accept, and it feels as if Indonesia's independence that day had materialized. During Bung Karno's speech, he received continuous applause from the assembly members.

"After Bung Karno made a speech, with a thunderous sound, the entire assembly immediately burst into applause. Likewise, because he was satisfied, there were cheers from journalists inside and outside the building," said Fatmawati in the book Little CATatan with Bung Karno (2016).

A few days later, Bung Karno's Pancasila began to adapt to the Indonesian narrative. Even though the point has not changed much. The Pancasila then put the matter of God above all else. However, all ideas remain for Bung Karno's efforts.

The polemic only appeared when Indonesia was independent. Many explained that Pancasila diggers were not Bung Karno. There are also those who say that Pancasila is not Bung Karno's monopoly. This is because the people who have the right to hold the image as Pancisila diggers are Yamin and Soepomo.

Bung Hatta and Yamin have repeatedly denied this assumption. Bung Hatta in his will mentioned Bung Karno as a Pancasila digger. Likewise Yamin. He believes that Bung Karno is an authentic Pancasila digger. He emphasized this many times. Mainly, when filling the Pancasila Seminar in Yogyakarta on February 16, 1959.

Soekarno's role as the only Pancasila digger was corroborated by witnesses involved in the process of formulating Pancasila as the State Basis, including Dr. Radjiman Wedyodiningrat in Prakata Born in Pancasila (1947), Letter of Wasiat Hatta (1978), Memoir Hatta (1979,) and even by M. Yamin himself in the Filsafat Speech of Pancasila, June 5, 1958, Seminar Pancasila January 1, 1959

Then, Speech at the State Department. Soekarno Yamin said-- was the authentic Pancasila Excavationer. And Yamin's confession was made at the Pancasila seminar on February 16, 1959 in Yogyakarta. This means that according to Soekarno's history and reality is the Pancasila digger," said historian Peter Kasenda in the book Bung Karno Panglima Revolution (2014).