The Secretariat General and Registrar’s Office of the Constitutional Court in collaboration with Publisher Mizan organized a Discussion on the Book entitled Amandemen UUD 1945; Mitos dan Pembongkaran (Amendment to the 1945 Constitution: Myths and their Dispelling) by Denny Indrayana, Thursday (8/11) at the Constitutional Court Hall. This discussion was moderated by Refli Harun, with resource persons Anis Rasyid Baswedan, M. Qodari, Saldi Isra and Denny Indrayana himself. This discussion was also attended by the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, Jimly Asshiddiqie, the Assembly Speaker, Hidayat Nur Wahid, Constitutional Court Justices as well as invited guests from all walks of life.

In his welcoming speech, the Constitutional Court Chief Justice explained that this book was a research on an actual theme of Amendment to the 1945 Constitution. Of course this is not easy because the amendment process itself still moves dynamically. “Therefore, Denny Indrayana’s efforts to willingly devote himself to this matter need to be supported by all parties,” said Jimly.

Relating to that matter, the Assembly Speaker who also gave a welcoming speech stated that the 1945 Constitution Amendment has been one of reform demands. “The existence of the numerous pros and cons on the results of 1945 Constitution amendment in society indicates that the amendment has not finished,” explained Wahid. Therefore according to him, it takes efforts to gain a constitution that will be able to present democracy for the welfare of the people and nation.

On the same occasion, Denny Indrayana also explained that the book was actually a dissertation research at the University of Melbourne, Australia, originally entitled Indonesian Constitutional Reform 1999-2002: An Evolution of Constitution-Making in Transition which had been intended to analyze the 1945 Constitution amendment process and its results. “To sum up, even though the process needs to be improved a lot, the result will be a better constitution,” he added. (Luthfi Widagdo Eddyono)