Part 6
BESIEGED with deep inter-ethnic tensions in Indonesia since its founding e.g. regions outside of Java, Aceh and Kalimantan (Borneo); historical discrimination/violence vs. the ‘Orang Tionghoa’ (Chinese descent) since 1740s; five notional separatist states struggle for independent republics — a unitary-single state under the Republic of Indonesia was the practical solution for the nationalist movement, reverting to a previous 1945 Constitution. This was after Dutch colonials influenced what became, a defunct federalist Republic of the United States of Indonesia. To the nationalists, said neo-colonial scheme, was risky in a politically/socially charged and dissociative environment. To cement heterogenous cleavages, ‘Pancasila’ was impressed as the Indonesian state credo: 1) Belief in the One and Only God 2) A just and civilized humanity 3) A unified Indonesia 4) Democracy, led by the wisdom of the representatives of the people 5) Social justice for all Indonesians. Established by President Sukarno, it reminded outstanding native factions the philosophy and consequence of “unity in diversity” as shared values.
Fortunes of other countries as Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, including the USSR, turned into ill-fated experimentations with manufactured and coerced marriages of states. In 1946, Czechoslovakia fell under the communist regime of Josep Broz Tito, as Prime Minister 1944-63, and ‘President for Life’ (1980s) installing a federation of 6 republics e.g. Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, Macedonia, plus 2 provinces in the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia. In 1963, the country was renamed Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Considered a benevolent dictator, Tito’s policies nurtured peaceful co-existence among the federation nations. His passing in May 1980, followed by Eastern Bloc communism falling, the Berlin Wall crumbling, Yugoslav coherence began to stray and fork. Upheavals and inter-ethnic civil wars broke out. Today, the Balkan federal state of Yugoslavia has splintered into 7 independent states.
