Megawati, Bung Kano, and the Echo of Pancasila in the Vatican

Megawati Soekarnoputri choked back tears as she spoke about her father, the first President of Indonesia, Soekarno, in front of President of Scholas Occurrentes Jose Maria del Corral at the Vatican, Tuesday (4/2/2025). The 5th President of Indonesia believes that her father's ideas are beneficial for the future of the world.

"Frankly, because I am Bung Karno's child, I understand very well, he taught us the things he wanted, what the world should actually be like," said Megawati during a visit to the headquarters of Global Scholas Occurrentes in the Vatican.

In the meeting, Jose Maria mentioned Pancasila, which is the foundation of the Indonesian state. According to him, the values contained in Pancasila are also embraced by Scholas Occurrentes, which was founded by Pope Francis.

Megawati feels touched because Pancasila is the brainchild of Bung Karno, her father. She then recounted that the thoughts of the first President of Indonesia were ahead of their time. Bung Karno's ideas are universal and aimed at creating a good world order.

The principle of just and civilized humanity, for example, is relevant when faced with the current situation. The world has now lost its conscience. Humanitarian values are often violated for certain interests.

"As you mentioned earlier, people nowadays have forgotten their conscience. So they can only think without using their conscience," said Megawati to Jose Maria.

Megawati has been in Rome, Italy since January 31 to carry out several agendas. In addition to meeting with the President of Scholas Occurrentes in the Vatican, she also met with child war survivors at an event organized by the Unbroken Kids Alliance in Rome. Her main agenda is to attend and speak at a meeting of world figures and leaders to discuss children's rights, the World Leaders Summit on Children's Rights, as well as to have a special meeting with the supreme leader of the worldwide Catholic Church, Pope Francis, in the Vatican.

In all those opportunities, one thing that Megawati always brings up is reintroducing Pancasila. She feels the need to preserve Bung Karno's thoughts while continuing efforts to realize the ideals of creating a good world order. The values in Pancasila, which are the thoughts of Bung Karno, are not only for the Indonesian people but for the world.

In two meetings with Pope Francis, for example, Megawati conveyed that Pancasila contains universal values that can serve as an inspirational guide to solving a number of problems faced by the world today.

"Actually, the five principles are a matter of life, especially the Almighty God, humanity," he said after a special meeting with Pope Francis at his residence in Domus Sancta Marthae, Vatican, Friday (7/2/2025).

The importance of implementing Pancasila values was also conveyed by Megawati through her speech at the World Leaders Summit on Children's Rights held at the Papal Palace, Vatican. In front of Pope Francis and a number of world leaders such as former US Vice President Al Gore and Queen Rania of Jordan, Megawati offered Pancasila as a guideline for character education for children in the world.

“Pancasila is not only the foundation of the Indonesian state, but also an ethical and moral guide that can be used in educating children around the world,” he said.

One of the important assets for forming children's identity is by instilling the values of tolerance, respect, caring for each other and mutual cooperation. These values are contained in Pancasila which is the ideology, philosophy and way of life of the Indonesian people.

Pancasila contains universal values that can be an inspiring guideline for solving a number of problems facing the world today.

Megawati reminded that the future of the world is in the hands of children. Therefore, children must be equipped with strong human values. "If we want to build a better world, we must instill unlimited hopes and dreams for our children," she added.

Regarding humanitarian values, Megawati emphasized that currently there are many events that violate humanitarian principles such as violence and war. War has caused more than 40 million children to be displaced and around 100 million children to lose their homes.

Children, Megawati said, will also definitely become future leaders. They will navigate a more complex and diverse world. They must be able to lead by adhering to the values of humanity, equality, and justice. For that, character education, such as instilling the values of Pancasila, needs to be given early on.

The importance of Pancasila for world life was also conveyed by Megawati when visiting the Global Scholas Occurrentes office. She said that Pancasila is an offering for Indonesia and the world to be free from imperialism and colonialism.

Pancasila, he continued, was developed by Bung Karno. The five principles in Pancasila contain the values of Belief in the One Almighty God, Humanity, Nationality, Democracy, and Social Justice. These five values were also conveyed by Bung Karno when giving a speech at the United Nations (UN) headquarters, New York, United States, on September 30, 1966.

"The values of anti-imperialist and anti-colonialism were conveyed in Bung Karno's speech known as 'To Build the World a New'," said Megawati, who came to the Scholas Occurrentes office with her son and daughter Mohamad Rizki Pratama and Puan Maharani, and the Head of the PDI-P DPP for Foreign Affairs Ahmad Basarah and a number of other PDI-P officials.

Basarah said that Megawati did not only talk about Pancasila, but also practiced the values contained therein.

One example is Megawati's willingness to provide support to humanitarian movements, including those initiated by a number of philanthropists, the Unbroken Kids Alliance. This alliance works to help victims and survivors of war and conflict in various countries.

Pope Francis, Megawati said, is interested in and appreciates Pancasila. "He is very interested in Pancasila, mutual cooperation, as I said at the summit," she said.

The Pope especially strongly agrees with the second principle of Pancasila, just and civilized humanity. Because, currently, there are significant changes in the world related to humanity and that is worrying. "There should be no more war, but war is happening," he said.

Scholas Occurrentes President Jose Maria also expressed his interest in the values of Pancasila. When receiving a visit from Megawati at his office, he said that the values contained in Pancasila are the same as the values adopted and disseminated by the global organization he leads.

Scholas Occurrentes even decided to make Megawati an advisor to the global education organization founded by Pope Francis. The hope is that the values of divinity, humanity, mutual cooperation, and unity can be spread more widely.

The appreciation for Pancasila that Megawati echoed again during her visit to the Vatican this time reminded us of the award given by the Holy See to Bung Karno.

Throughout 1956 to 1964, the Indonesian proclaimer visited the Vatican three times. During that time, Bung Karno received three of the Vatican's highest awards from three different Popes.

The first medal was given by Pope Pius XII when Soekarno visited the Vatican on June 13, 1956. The second award was given by Pope John XXIII when the first President of the Republic of Indonesia made a state visit to the Vatican on May 14, 1959. The third award was given by Pope Paul VI when Bung Karno visited the Vatican on October 12, 1964. In fact, on the third visit which later became his last visit to the territory of the Holy See, Bung Karno was given a special stamp by the Vatican.

The award was inseparable from Soekarno's good relationship with the Vatican and the Holy See's interest in the values of Pancasila brought by the leader often called Bung Besar. Soekarno was considered capable of protecting other religious communities, including Catholics, in a country with a Muslim majority.

Bung Karno's eldest son, Guntur Soekarnoputra, in an article in Kompas, July 5, 2021, recounted that during his first visit to the Vatican in 1956, Bung Karno introduced his aide, Major of the Navy Commando Corps (KKO) Bambang Wijanarko, to Pope Pius XII. Bung Karno then explained that Bambang Wijanarko was a Catholic.

Pope XII seemed a bit surprised because he did not expect the aide of a President in a country with a majority Muslim population to have a Catholic aide. Bung Karno also explained that this could happen because Indonesia has a state philosophy, namely Pancasila.

Bung Karno then explained that Pancasila not only contains nationalism, humanity, justice, and democracy, but also the Almighty God. The principle shows that religious freedom and tolerance are guaranteed and can be developed by its adherents in Indonesia.

According to Guntur, Pope Pius XII nodded while listening to Bung Karno's explanation. Not long after, two cardinals came carrying a set of sashes and medals. Pope Pius XII then pinned the Vatican's Highest Star award on Bung Karno.

The three awards given by the three highest leaders of the Catholic church in the world were a source of pride for Bung Karno. The award from the Vatican also made other heads of state with a majority Catholic population jealous. Because, Bung Karno was the President of a country with the largest Muslim population in the world at that time.

To Cindy Adams, as written in the book Untold Story Bung Karno: Penyambung Lidah Rakyat Indonesia, Soekarno said, "I am a Muslim and have now received three of the highest medals from the Vatican."

Soekarno always introduced Pancasila in every visit he made abroad, including the Vatican. Decades later, it was his daughter, Megawati, who reintroduced Pancasila in various occasions of her visits abroad, including the Vatican.

The values contained in Pancasila are universal, so it is believed that they can be applied by all nations. It is an antidote to the increasingly complex problems of tolerance, humanity, nationality, and justice today.