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% On the Eve of the Coronation of Charles.

# An infantile disorder.

Monarchism is, fundamentally, an 'infantile disorder'. Lenin might
have put that phrase to the anarchists, but I think it is equally as
incisive about the worshippers of the Crown.

This peacock fluffing about 'constitutional monarchy' is mere
Empiricism about how political structures are formed. I have said this
elsewhere: it amounts to saying, 'just because this is where we have
arrived, this is where we should stay'.

Hume's muddling continues to loom large over the thinking of the
British. Isn't it fundamental to being British to love the Crown?

Australians, stand up and say:

> 'I am _not_ your British slave! I was sacrificed at the altar of
> Gallipoli, by the hand of Churchill! I was _slaughtered_--the flower
> of my generation!'

Indeed! I do not count myself as British. Honestly, do you? Do the
British inspire you so?

Let us dream bigger: Why not the socialist republic? The self-action
of the masses in their workplaces and communities! Why don't we look
deep inside ourselves and say:

> 'We should go to the assemblies! We should seek that socialist
> Democracy that is lasting; edifying; fulfilling!'

Let's reach into the future, instead. Our leaders: gormless,
muttering, they shuffle this-way-and-that. Are they usurpers--would
they be king?--Or are they slaves themselves--Hands tied to the rack?

Who can tell? And really, does it matter?

# O, Pancasila!

No-one in Australia pays much mind to Indonesia, that mighty Republic
borne of slavery and struggle.

We fought on their side against the Dutch, and then promptly forgot
about them. No-one in australia knows about Sukarno's
Pancasila. No-one much cares about Indonesia--I've been to Bali too!
Ha!

The five principles of Pancasila are the touchstone of the Indonesian
people, who, you may be totally unconcerned to know, _continue_ to
flourish. Indonesians are known as the 'smiling people'. They greet
each other by placing their hands on their hearts. I believe this only
happens every four years by that klepocrat, the new President of the
United States of America. On a podium, to an obsequious clapping
crowd.

Anyway, let us state them. Like all beautiful systems, it is able to
be enumerated:

## 1. ___Ketuhanan yang Maha Esa___


	
(Belief in the one and only God)*


## 2. ___Kemanusiaan yang adil dan beradab___


	
(Just and civilized humanity)*


## 3. ___Persatuan Indonesia___


	
(The unity of Indonesia)*


## 4. ___Kerakyatan yang dipimpin oleh hikmat kebijaksanaan dalam permusyawaratan/perwakilan___


	
(Democracy guided by the inner wisdom in the unanimity arising out of

deliberations among representatives)*

## 5. ___Keadilan sosial bagi seluruh rakyat Indonesia___


	
(Social justice for the whole of the people of Indonesia)*


I place each translation below these beautiful ideas not in a reckless
attempt to let the _English_ have the final say in the expression of
their sense. I place them _below_ the endlessly lyrical Bahasa
Indonesia.

Isn't _Indonesia_ a Republic? I ask this in the same sense as one
would rebuke an interlocutor: _And it has not yet fallen!_

Don't the people here, who are taught to know and love these ideas,
exhault a unity-in-diversity completely missing beneath the boot of
British imperialism?

By contrast, dour, like Victorian Businessman, doesn't the Australian
Constitution state with staggering ineloquence:

> WHEREAS the people of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia,
> Queensland, and Tasmania, **humbly relying on the blessing of
> Almighty God, have agreed to unite** in one indissoluble Federal
> Commonwealth **under the Crown of the United Kingdom** of Great
> Britain and Ireland, and under the Constitution hereby established:

> And whereas it is expedient to provide for the admission into the
> Commonwealth of other Australasian Colonies and possessions of the
> Queen:

> Be it therefore enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by
> and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal,
> and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the
> authority of the same, as follows:

> &c. &c.

What servile, puny minds we Australians have. Where do we even refer
to ourselves as masters of our own destinies? It is a sad thing Henry
Parkes did not live a little longer. Perhaps the Australian
Constitution might have had a single word--the tiniest ink-jot--of
romance in it.

No. I am not British.

Down with the Monarchy!

--

Call me a Sukarnite if you must. But, if you do, know I place you
among the Indonesian people as a sun bleached brained Australian
Tourist.