By Bono Budi Priambodo
To contemplate the history of the Nusantara archipelago is to engage in a long, mournful prayer. For a millennium, from the dynastic clashes of the Sanjaya and Shailendra to the modern machinations of the 21st century, a singular, tragic theme has persisted: the obsession of the powerful with their own grandeur, bought at the price of the small (wong cilik).
As we look upon the gold-leafed manuscripts of our past, we see moments of civility—the justice of Empress Sima, the maritime wisdom of King Jayanasa, the unifying vision of Kretanagara, until the pluralist heart of Gus Dur. Yet, these feel like brief clearings in a dense forest of stupid and unnecessary bloodshed. We must ask ourselves: Is the Amanat Penderitaan Rakyat (The Mandate of the People’s Suffering) an eternal curse, or is it a debt of seven generations that we finally have the tools to repay?
The Geography of the Soul
Nusantara is a lesson from the Almighty. Our geography—the Tanah Air Indonesia—is not merely land with water, but a maritime crossroads intended to be a “Golden Bridge” for a just and civilized humanity. When our leaders acted as faithful stewards of this gift, we were the anchors of global moral and economic order.
But all too often, our “trustees” have acted like tenants burning the floorboards of the house to stay warm for one night. They became trapped in a “Land-based” ego—a feudal fixation on the Wahyu Chakraningrat (the divine right to rule) as a personal possession rather than a divine trust (Amanah). In this myopia, the “mouse-deer” (kancil) is not a citizen to be protected, but scenery to be trampled in the pursuit of a ruler’s prestige.
Reclaiming ‘Manunggaling Kawula-Gusti’
To break this cycle, we must strip away the mystical arrogance that has long clouded our philosophy of power. We often hear the phrase Manunggaling Kawula-Gusti, but it has been hijacked by elites to justify their absolute authority.
The true ontological meaning of this phrase is the Unity of the Lord’s Creations. It is the radical realization that the President, the Sultan, and the worm slithering on the ground are of the same essence: Kawula-ning-Gusti (Servants of the Lord).
If a leader truly understands this unity, they cannot hurt even the smallest creature. They would lift the worm and place it in a “Save Place” because they recognize themselves in that worm. This is the ultimate litmus test for power: Do you see the “other” as a tool for your grandeur, or as a mirror of your own soul before the Almighty?
The Hikmat of the Street
We often lament that our Representative Councils lack the “Inner Wisdom” (Hikmat Kebijaksanaan) mandated by the Fourth Principle of Pancasila. We look for a “Just King” (Ratu Adil), forgetting that such enlightened beings—like Siddhartha Gautama or Prince Benawa—often flee the throne to preserve their souls.
Yet, if we open our eyes, the Hikmat is everywhere.
I recently saw a peddler of trinkets on a dusty street—a man selling things nobody seemed to need. When he opened his humble nasi timbel, a stray cat approached him, meowing in hope. Without hesitation, he shared the only fish he had, mixing it with rice for the cat. In that moment, that peddler was a truer representative of the Nusantara Soul than any official in a tinted limousine. He practiced the “Living Constitution”—an ontology where Truth, Love, Law, and the State are one essence manifested in an act of mercy.
Toward a Living Constitution
The Preamble of the 1945 Constitution is not a Western legalistic document; it is a Covenant. It envisions a state led by those entrusted by the Almighty with “Inner Wisdom” found through deliberation.
The “Amanat Penderitaan Rakyat” will only be fulfilled when we realize that the “Just King” is not a single person, but the Collective Character of a people who love the Truth. If the Indonesian people love the Truth and nothing but the Truth, that Truth will embrace them—not necessarily as a miracle from the sky, but through the emergence of leaders who love them back.
We must move from the “Grandeur of Monuments” to the “Grandeur of Mercy.” We must stop waiting for a Solomon and start building a society where the “Inner Wisdom” of the peddler becomes our national compass. Only then will the State become what it was always meant to be: a “Save Place” where no creature, however small, is ever again trampled by the “Elephants” of power.
*** This essay is a call to mourn our past honestly so that we may inhabit our future as faithful stewards of the Nusantara blessing
