According to KBBI, secularism is an understanding or belief that holds that religious understanding is not included in political affairs, the state or public institutions.
Indonesia as a country that adheres to the Pancasila ideology, in which the first precept reads “Ketuhanan Yang Maha Esa” creates the character of our country to link religious understanding into political affairs, the state or public institutions, in the sense that our country is against the principle of secularism. This was done in order to achieve a peaceful country and avoid abuse of power.
However, in countries that adhere to the principle of secularism like in Europe, what happens is that their countries become developed, and there are rarely cases of abuse of power such as corruption or the like. In this way, can Indonesia apply the principles of secularism?
In my opinion, the application of the principle of secularism in Indonesia cannot be applied. Indeed, there are many advantages if we apply this principle, such as we are freer to argue, criticize, determine what choices we choose, and people who have different problems such as LGBT no longer hide their true identity.
However, that is what poses a threat to our own country. Free to express whatever their opinion is even in a direction that is no longer reasonable and even has opposed religious knowledge on the grounds of human rights, the will of those who speak does not rule out wanting confessions that are more unreasonable to be tolerated by society.
This will obviously lead to divisions if we apply a system of principles of secularism because as we know that Indonesian society is diverse in ethnicity and culture, there will be many differences of opinion whose impact will be division and it does not rule out the possibility of triggering the destruction of our own country.
Author: Fanisa Paradita
Student College of International Relations, Universitas Muhammadiyah of Yogyakarta
Editor: Salwa Alifah Yusrina
Bahasa: Rahmat Al Kafi
