REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BANDUNG -- The Pancasila Ideology Development Board (BPIP) is needed to thwart the threat from radicals to the state, the Chief of the Presidential Staff, Moeldoko, has said. When the public face the question of ideology and the threat of radicalism is high, I think the BPIP is badly needed, he said on the sidelines of the coffee harvest at Mount Puntang in Bandung district, West Java, on Tuesday.
He refused to comment on the controversy over the salaries of the BPIP leadership, officials and employees, which may run from tens to hundreds of millions of rupiahs.
"Don't be resistant to the presence of this agency. If the problem rests with salaries, I think we have norms. Don't let me answer it. The finance minister may have the norms. I don't want to answer it," he said.
Moeldoko said he believed the BPIP would be able to mainstream the Pancasila ideology by familiarising the public with it.
Chairman of Pancasila Ideology Development Board (BPIP) Yudi Latif (left) photographed along with members of the BPIP Board of Directors (left to right), namely Wisnu Bawa Tenaya, Said Aqil Siradj, Try Sutrisno, Ma'ruf Amin, Megawati Soekarnoputri, Mahfud MD, Andreas Anangguru Yewangoe, Sudhamek, and Syafii Maarif after inauguration ceremony at State Palace, Jakarta, Wednesday (June 7, 2017).
"I have held meetings with the BPIP several times to mainstream it smoothly. Don't be easily influenced by other opinions allegedly carrying out certain efforts to weaken this institution," he said.
"As chief of the presidential staff, I have met with Mr Yudi Latif to discuss how to mainstream Pancasila," he said referring to the BPIP chief.
The nine members of the BPIP Board of Directors include former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, former vice president Try Sutrisno, former chairman of the Constitutional Court Muhammad Mahfud MD, former chairman of Muhammadiyah Ahmad Syafii Maarif, Chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council Ma'ruf Amin, and Chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama Said Aqil Siradj.
The other appointees are former chairman of the Indonesian Church Association Priest Andreas Anangguru Yewangoe, Chairman of the Parisadha Hindu Dharma Indonesia Wisnu Bawa Tenaya, and Chairman of the Buddhayana Council, concurrently CEO of Garudafood Group Sudhamek.
The president also inaugurated Yudi Latief as chairman of the institution.