Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – An attempt by factions in the House of Representatives to pass a bill forcing all political parties to adopt Pancasila and adherence to the 1945 Constitution as their sole platform has been dismissed as a stunt by a political analyst.

Fachry Ali, executive director of the Institute for the Development of Business Ethics, said the House factions of the Golkar Party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Democratic Party were only using talk of a bill as part of a pragmatic attack on parties professing Islam as their guiding ideology.

Fachry cited all three parties' support for sharia-inspired morality bylaws in a number of regions as evidence that they were not truly committed to Pancasila, the state ideology that stipulates belief in one God for all the nation's religions, not just Islam.

"The proposed single political platform is apparently only a political game by the major factions in the parliament," Fachry told a discussion in Jakarta on Friday.

For most of Soeharto's New Order regime, all political parties permitted to exist were forced to profess Pancasila in their party platforms. The restriction was lifted in 1998.

The government for its part wants to follow a 2002 law on political parties, which allows Islamic parties to adopt religion-based platforms, as long as they do not conflict with Pancasila or the Constitution.

Gandjar Pranowo, the chairman of the special committee deliberating the bill, and his deputy Idrus Marham, said the proposed return to the New Order restrictions was based on careful consideration of how to maintain pluralism and the unitary nature of the Indonesian state.

Idrus, who is also a Golkar legislator, said Indonesia would face continued disunity if the all sides in politics could not bring themselves to support Pancasila.

Gandjar, a PDI-P legislator, said all political parties should accept Pancasila and the constitution because they guaranteed freedom of religion, freedom of expression and freedom of association.

"Indonesia is not a theocratic state, nor a secular state, and no religious community should force others to accept their own ideology," he said.

Eka Santosa, a member of Commission II on home affairs at the House of Representatives, warned Indonesian pluralism would be set back if all parties could not agree on the common platform.

"Religious-based ideologies are no longer saleable in modern politics because, besides denigrating religion itself, they negate pluralism," he said.