Up until now, Indonesia still experiences many crucial problems. However, the selections of grand ideas for state policies formulated by the decision makers were only just written on the paper.

The abovementioned issue was conveyed in the speech by the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, Prof. Dr. Jimly Asshidique, S.H. in the colloquium of the Constitutional Court on the state administration of the Republic of Indonesia for the Chairmen and the Members of Association of Indonesian Local Councils (ADEKSI) on Thursday (7/6) in Jakarta.

Why the policies are only just written? Jimly said that the issue occurred as the result of crisis prior to the reform era. To cope with such various crises, both as the result of regional demand or globalization which include the threat and the challenge from other countries, it is necessary to carry out a reform.

Jimly added that at the beginning of the reform era, the grand ideas were gathered and realized as the public and state administration policies through democratic processes where the law and regulations as well as the subordinate legislation were set forth through the four amendments of the 1945 Constitution. “However, in 10 years, all the policies have only been written on papers. They were not a hundred percent complete because there are still application and elaboration of norms that need to be arranged.” Jimly said.

The process still continues. When evaluating various old norms inherited from the past prior to the reform era based upon the new norm system which has been adopted in the Constitution, there are in fact many “collision” among the existing norms which require arrangement. The arrangement of legal norms is not completed yet, but demands for the ethical norms have been raised.

Jimly added that the ethical norm system used to be presented by the religious figures or passed from generation to generation. But now, the infrastructure of ethics in public office has been discussed worldwide. “Thus, if ethics used to be abstract and applied voluntarily, now they require a more concrete infrastructure,” he said.

Jimly explained that in 1996, the United Nations in one of its general assembly had in fact recommended for all the member states of the United Nations to develop ethical infrastructure. “As a result, we have to develop both legal and ethical systems. Both systems have been recognized as major problems in the modern state administration,” said Jimly.

Why is that so? As a respond, Jimly stated that the modern society awareness on the need for additional legal system as a guarantee and a reference in good governance has developed. An ethical system is also required to control the human ideal behavior. Law already has too burdensome load. There are too many disorders caused by modern human being that cannot be manage and solve by law. Jimly said that whenever there is a misconduct, there must be a system for correction through an ethical system so that it would not develop into violation of law.

Jimly gave a suggestion that as the consequence, the legal and ethical systems should be arranged simultaneously and provide a mutual support. The ethical system is not only preached but also realized. “If the ethical norm prohibited something that has not been regulated by the legal norm, we should obey it. The restriction in legal system is also a restriction in ethic system. That’s the way we should think,” Jimly remarked. (Wiwik Budi Wasito)