SUSTAINING INDONESIAN NATIONAL COHESION AND THE DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY OF SEA PEOPLES’ CHRISTIANITY

Abstract

This article critically examines the sociopolitical and theological contributions of Indonesia’s sea peoples, particularly the Talaud community, to the preservation of national cohesion through the framework of deliberative democracy. Drawing on democratic practices embedded in maritime culture and the contextual theology of the Gereja Masehi Injili di Talaud (GERMITA), the study demonstrates how indigenous meritocratic leadership, participatory decision-making, and relational ethics form a substantive alternative to the procedural and populist drift of Indonesia’s contemporary democratic landscape. Anchored in the local philosophy of sansiotte sampate-pate, a maritime ethic of synchronized collective action, the paper articulates a model of deliberative democracy grounded in inclusivity, egalitarianism, and social justice. Furthermore, it analyzes the theological position of the Indonesian Ecumenical Christian movement, which affirms the Indonesian nation-state and the Pancasila ideology as manifestations of divine grace, thereby linking religious identity to emancipatory nationalism. The study contends that the deliberative ethos of the sea peoples provides an ethically grounded political framework capable of countering the instrumentalization of democratic procedures by populist demagogues, while revitalizing the symbolic values of Pancasila into actionable and justice-oriented public policy. In doing so, it offers a constructive contribution to contemporary discourse on democracy, pluralism, and nationhood in the Global South.

Keywords: Deliberative democracy; maritime political culture; Indonesian nationalism; GERMITA; Pancasila; contextual theology; populism