The Importance of Community Understanding of Political Ethics and Culture in Developing A Democratic Political Culture in Indonesian Regions

Abstract

The reformation initiated and marked by President Suharto's fall (21 May 1998) is essentially a demand to carry out democratization in all fields. In the Indonesian context, understanding ethics and political culture in the midst of demands for democratization in all fields is a necessity because the Indonesian nation is, in reality, a diverse nation, from the aspects of ethnicity, religion, race and inter-group (SARA), all of which obviously affect the pattern, style, ethical character, and political culture. This research aims to analyze the importance of the people’s understanding of ethics and political culture in developing a democratic political culture in Indonesian regions.  The method used is normative legal research by analyzing norms in the Indonesian constitution, laws, and other legal sources.  The result of this research us that the efforts to understand the society's political ethics and culture based on Pancasila in the current reformation era, especially in regional areas, are significant because the Indonesian nation is carrying out reforms in all fields which, of course, require the support of all elements of society to behave in ethical ways and uphold a Pancasila-based culture. Various efforts to form ethical behaviors and culture based on Pancasila should be immediately carried out by both the state and all Indonesian citizens. These efforts, in addition to education, training, workshops and seminars, should be associated with Pancasila ideology, the noble values of Pancasila should be included in every statutory regulation in Indonesia, and which is no less important and in fact the most important, is the examples set by leaders, both at local and national levels, so that democratization which is the ideal of the reformation can be achieved in accordance with the noble values of Pancasila.