PANCASILA AS THE GUIDELINES IN THE LEGISLATION IN INDONESIA

Indonesia is a vast archipelago and has approximately 1340 tribes. This condition indicates that Indonesia is a pluralist country. However, behind the diversity of ethnicity, culture, race, and religion, there are basic principles that reflect the national identity, namely the Pancasila. By the founders of the nation, Pancasila was used as the guidelines in the administration of the state, by incorporating these principles into the preamble of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia. This makes the existence of Pancasila as the guidelines for the state officials, including the lawmakers in Indonesia (the House of Representatives and the President) in carrying out their functions. Hence, it is true that Pancasila is referred to as the source of all sources of law of the country, as stated in Article 2 of Law Number 12 of 2011 on the Legislation. But in fact laws enacted by the House of Representatives (DPR) and the President remained contrary to Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia. This is evidenced by the annulment of a number of provisions in the 159 laws by the Constitutional Court in the period of 2003 to November 2014. The problems of this law can be caused by political interests in the legislation. Therefore, the public may assume that the lawmakers are experiencing a moral degradation. Pancasila which is regarded as the nation’s way of life indicates that its position as the moral values. The use of Pancasila as the guidelines in the legislation will be able to avoid actions that prioritize the interests of the group rather than the interests of the entire people. Therefore Pancasila should serve as a guideline in the legislation in order to produce laws that guarantee, protect and fulfill the human rights of every person.