“Khairunnas anfaauhum linnas (The best human among you is the most beneficial for others)” – Hadith At-Thabari.
Arsul Sani stepped into the role of Constitutional Justice on January 18, 2024, taking his oath of office before President Joko Widodo at the State Palace in Jakarta. He was chosen and nominated by the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia (DPR RI) to replace Wahiduddin Adam, who had reached the age of 70 and retired from service.
Born in Pekalongan on January 8, 1964, Arsul began his education at Muhammadiyah Pekajangan Elementary School and Madrasah Diniyah NU Panggung in Kedungwuni, Pekalongan Regency. His journey took him to Jakarta, where he pursued a law degree at the University of Indonesia in 1982, and graduating in early 1987. His career in law began humbly as a volunteer lawyer at the Legal Aid Institute (LBH) Jakarta from 1986 to 1988, where he first honed his commitment to justice.
Arsul’s academic and professional journey is nothing short of remarkable. He pursued a Graduate Diploma in Advanced Comparative Law (The Common Law) at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) while working as a visiting lawyer at Dunhil, Madden, Butler, a prominent law firm in Sydney, Australia, from 1993 to 1994. He then took an opportunity to Tokyo in 1997, where he studied Industrial Property Management at the Japan Institute of Invention (JII) on an AOTS-Japan scholarship. In 2006, he earned a Graduate Certificate from the University of Cambridge, UK, in Managing the Information, followed by a Master’s in Corporate Communication from the London School of Public Relations (LSPR) in Jakarta in 2007. He also completed Fellowship Arbitration Courses in the UK in 2009 and became a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) in London and the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators (SIArb), as well as the International Bar Association (IBA).
In 2011, he began his doctoral studies in Justice, Policy, and Welfare Studies at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) in Scotland. However, the demands of his role as a member of the DPR RI from October 2014 made it impossible to complete his dissertation, and he chose to suspend the program, earning a second master’s degree from GCU instead. In late 2019, he resumed his doctoral studies at Collegium Humanum, Warsaw Management University, Poland, completing them in 2022.
Before his election to the DPR RI in 2014, Arsul was a corporate law practitioner, arbitrator, and executive at a multinational foreign investment company. During the presidencies of B.J. Habibie and Abdurrahman Wahid, he served on the Indonesian government’s legal team under the late Dr. Adnan Buyung Nasution, SH, handling international arbitration cases in Jakarta, Washington D.C., and The Hague related to the termination of private power projects caused by economic crisis in 1997.
Arsul has also been deeply involved in community and professional organizations, including serving as Head of Legal Consultation at Nahdlatul Ulama Legal Aid & Counseling Institute (LPBH-PBNU) under the late K.H. Hasyim Muzadi (2005-2010), Chairman of the Indonesian Corporate Counsel Association (ICCA) (2006-2008), Head of Foreign Affairs at the Indonesian Advocates Association (IKADIN) (2007-2013), Vice Chairman of the Advisory Council of the Indonesian Advocates Association (PERADI) (2020-2023), and as a member of the Advisory Board for the Association of Construction Dispute Experts (PADSK) (2021-2023) and the Nahdliyin Professional Community Circle (NU-Circle) (2012-2023).
Throughout his tenure as a member of the DPR RI (2014-2023), Arsul received numerous awards, including honors from the DPR RI’s Honorary Council, the Parliamentary Journalists Coordination (KWP), Moslem’s Choice, the Indonesian Christian Religious Institution (Bamag LKKI), the Indonesian Diaspora Networks (IDN) Global, and the Obsession Media Group (OMG). In 2023, he was awarded the Utama Dharma Defense Star by the Indonesian Ministry of Defense.
Arsul’s passion for writing has resulted in three books on law, legal enforcement, and the relationship between Islam and the state, along with numerous articles. One of the books written is an Indonesian version of his doctoral dissertation (originally in English), which was later published by KOMPAS Book Publisher, under the title “National Security and Human Rights Protection: Dialectics of Counterterrorism in Indonesia”.
At heart, Arsul Sani, a man with a good sense of humor, has a simple aspiration yet profound: to be khairunnas anfaauhum linnas—the best of people are those who bring the most benefit to others. And through his life’s work, Arsul Sani continues to live by that principle, serving as a beacon of justice and compassion for all.