Jakarta, March 7 -- Speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), Ahmad Muzani, underlined the role of Indonesia's ideology, Pancasila, or the Five Principles, as a unifying foundation for the nation at a conference organized by the Muslim World League.

At the event in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday, he said that Pancasila was chosen as a unifying compromise to resolve the debate over Indonesia's ideology between the Islamist, nationalist, and secularist founding fathers of the nation.

"Pancasila emerged as a unifying factor for us, a highly diverse nation," he added, according to a statement received from the MPR in Jakarta on Friday.

Elaborating on Indonesia's characteristics, Muzani said that the country is home to approxim...