PANCASILA SAKTI MUSEUM. A MARTYROLOGICAL MUSEUM WHICH CONSTRUCTS THE IDENTITY OF THE INDONESIANS

• Main Author: Katarzyna Marta Głąb
• Format: Article
• Language: deu
• Published: Index Copernicus International S.A. 2017-07-01
• Series: Muzealnictwo
• Subjects: Indonesia; Pancasila; martyrological museum; national identity; collective memory; victim
• Online Access: http://muzealnictworocznik.com/gicid/01.3001.0010.2236

Pancasila refers to the five rules which constitute the philosophical basis for the functioning of the “imagined nation” of Indonesia, announced on 1 June 1945 by Sukarno, the first president of Indonesia. From the very beginning, Pancasila aroused great emotions and was subjected to various interpretations. The ways in which it was understood as the fundaments of the state also varied many times from 1945. One thing beyond any doubt is that Pancasila has shaped Indonesian society, even though it has repeatedly been redefined and its significance questioned. The Pancasila Sakti Museum holds a particularly important place in the history of Indonesia and the memory of the inhabitants of this multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multilingual archipelago. It is the best-known museum complex from the rule of General Suharto (1965–1998) for whom the state’s identity, culture, tradition and art became one of the most important elements of politics. For him the museum became the ideological foundation of the Orde Baru or New Order, as the time of his reign is referred to. To this day, it is a place of commemoration in the meaning of a lieu de mémoire. It is also a traumatic place marked by the martyrs’ death of seven generals in 1965. In the way it is constructed, it resembles a sanctuary where the deceased generals are “victims” as understood by Durkheim, who appear as instances sanctifying torment and fighting purposes. The article reveals the circumstances of the museum’s founding, the history of its development, and above all its significance in establishing the state’s identity for the Indonesian people.