Serang, wapresri.go.id – As an effort to restore socio-economic conditions, the Government of Indonesia is intensively managing various national and regional development agendas. Bureaucracy plays an important role in national development. For this reason, as part of the bureaucracy, the State Civil Apparatus (ASN) is required to not only have technical, managerial and socio-cultural competence, but also have integrity and have the spirit of Pancasila.

“The noble values of Pancasila must be internalized in the soul, mindset, and performance behavior of all ASNs,” said Vice President (VP) K.H. Ma’ruf Amin at the event to Strengthen Pancasila Ideology Development for Government Apparatuses, Hall of the Governor of Banten Province, Serang, Banten, Monday (14/11/2022).

According to the VP, apart from being a unifying force and glue for the nation, State Civil Apparatus (ASN) also plays an important role in the bureaucracy, especially in providing responsible public services.

“In a hadith, the Prophet Muhammad SAW once prayed, “O Allah, whoever is given the responsibility to handle the affairs of my ummah, then he makes it difficult for them, then it will make his life difficult. And whoever is given the responsibility to take care of my ummah, then he facilitates their affairs, then makes his life easy,” said the VP quoting a hadith.

“This hadith illustrates the important meaning of bureaucracy, especially for ASN, to carry out the mandate as well as possible, with full responsibility, especially in providing services to facilitate various community affairs,” he added.

In addition, the VP also reminded that indicators of a country’s progress are not only from its physical and economic development, but also from the quality of its government. As determined by the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) that to assess the progress of a country, it can be seen from 6 indicators, namely public accountability, political stability and violence, government effectiveness, quality of regulation, rule of law, and level of corruption.

“In these 6 indicators, WGI Indonesia in 2021 has strengthened in value compared to the achievements in 2016, except for indicators of a constant level of corruption, and indicators of political stability and violence whose values have decreased. For this reason, Indonesia needs to consistently accelerate strategic steps in managing, improving and enhancing various dimensions of governance,” the VP stated.

Improving governance, continued the VP, not only at the central government level, but also at the regional government level.

“For this reason, I urge the Provincial Government of Banten to immediately formulate comprehensive and breakthrough steps in the design of accelerating the development of the Banten region,” he urged.

On this occasion, the VP also emphasized that Pancasila and religion cannot be contradicted because these two things are not things that negate each other.

“A good Muslim, he can become a Pancasilaist. A kaffah (whole) Muslim, can also become a Pancasilaist. This is what perhaps needs to be emphasized. For us, Indonesians, we must [ideologically] Pancasila, but we as Muslims are still Muslims. So don’t negate each other,” explained the VP.

This is in line with what was conveyed by the Deputy Head of the Pancasila Ideology Development Agency (BPIP) Karjono. He said that the Pancasila greeting is not a substitute for religious greetings, as was discussed recently, but is a unifying greeting.

In addition, as the background for this activity, Karjono emphasized that it is not enough for an ASN to only have intelligence, but also must have the wisdom to continue to adhere to the Pancasila ideology in every decision-making.

“When talking smart, ASN is already very smart. Through the Computer Assisted Test (CAT) test, it has competed several thousand other participants. But, it would be dangerous to be a smart person, but not right,” he said.

Present at the event were Acting Governor of Banten Al Muktabar, Chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Firli Bahuri, and Head of the State Administration Agency (LAN) Adi Suryanto.

Meanwhile, the VP was accompanied by the Head of the Vice President’s Secretariat Ahmad Erani Yustika, Special Staff for the VP Masduki Baidlowi, and Masykuri Abdillah. (NN/LHS- BPMI, Setwapres)