The Constitutional Court received the visit from 75 students of the Faculty of Law of Jayabaya University in Jakarta on Thursday (21/6). The purpose of this visit was to have a deeper knowledge and understanding on the authorities of the Constitutional Court. The students were received by the Constitutional Justice I Dewa Gede Palguna, SH., M.H. and expert staff, Machmud Aziz.

Palguna opened his speech by explaining the history of the establishment of the Constitutional Court. “The history of the establishment of the Constitutional Court begins from a fundamental change in the 1945 Constitution from the vertical-hierarchical system to the horizontal-functional system.“ According to Palguna, vertical-hierarchical system is a system for the distribution of powers by applying the principle of the Assembly’s supremacy whereas the horizontal-functional system is a system for the distribution of powers by applying the check and balance principles. “The foundation for such change is the fourth Paragraph of the Preamble of the 1945 Constitution,“ Palguna added.

Palguna continued that the basic idea for the amendment to the 1945 Constitution is the will to make Indonesia into a state that applies Constitutional Democracy and Rule of Law, characterized among others by Constitutionalism with the principle of Constitutionality of Law. “Constitutionalism would be applied if the Constitution is really put into practice thus, supervision is required. For that reason, the Constitutional Court has been established,“ Palguna remarked.

Palguna explained that such supervision is reflected on the authorities granted to the Constitutional Court by the 1945 Constitution, namely to decide upon disputes on the authorities of the state institutions the authorities of which are granted by the Constitution, to decide upon the dissolution of political parties, to decide upon disputes on general election results, as well as to conduct impeachment against the President and/or the Vice President.

During the discussion session, one of the participants raised a question on the monitoring system of the Constitutional Court. As a respond to this question, Palguna said that an Ad-Hoc Honorary Panel will be established to monitor the Justices of the Constitutional Court which comprise 5 members. â€œThe Honorary Panel comprise 3 members from outside the Constitutional Court and 2 members from the Constitutional Court to maintain its purity,“ Palguna answered. (Mastiur Afrilidiany Pasaribu)