Chief Justice of German Constitutional Court, Hans-Juergen Papier, showing profiles of Geman Constitutional Justices to his Indonesian colleague, Moh. Mahfud MD.
Germany-MKOnline, The development in decisions made by the Indonesian Constitutional Court (The Court) only caught the attention of Indonesian people. International people and law enforcement institutions in Germany were still keeping track on the decision of The Court. That was told by Chief Justice of German Constitutional Court and Head of German Supreme Court during the visit conducted by Chief Justice and Justices of Indonesian Constitutional Court, from November 29 until December 2, 2009.
According to the German Lawman, a number of decisions made by The Court caught the attention and appreciation from German law enforcing institution. German lawmen considered The Court had made several courageous breakthroughs and considered in the same position as German Court which had been established for more than 60 years.
Indonesian Chief Justice Moh. Mahfud MD accompanied by Constitutional Justice Maruarar Siahaan and M. Akil Mochtar were in German to meet the invitation from German Constitutional Court, Supreme Court , and Attorney General Office. The opportunity was also used by the Indonesian delegation to study further about authorities which yet to posses by Indonesian Court, constitutional complaint and constitutional question.
According to German Constitutional Court, Hans-Juergen Papier, Indonesian Court had become one of the best in Asia considering its big contribution in developing democracy, law, and Human Rights protection. Meanwhile,, Moh. Mahfud MD said that for Indonesia as the third biggest democratic country and world’s fourth biggest country with 17 thousands of islands and 170 million citizens with rights to vote in election, the acknowledgement had become a prestigious achievement in the consolidation of Indonesian law.
In the meeting, Mahfud explained that during six years of The Court’s existence, there was a significant improvement in Indonesian law especially in election law, whether legislative election or the executive one.
Scholarships
Besides the meeting, the Indonesian delegation also conducted a meeting session with German law foundation, the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF). The President of HSF, Hans Zehetmair mentioned that they were the highest rank delegation ever received by the Central HSF. The meeting resulted in an agreement to provide scholarships for the employees within Indonesian Court who were willing to take a Post Graduate program in Germany also several trainings to improve the expertise in law and constitution. Besides that, HSF also agreed to conduct dialogues about both Indonesian law and German law.
After visiting Germany, the delegation also fulfilled the invitation from Spanish Constitutional Court (Tribunal Constitucional de España). In the visit both institutions represented by Moh. Mahfud MD, and the President of Spanish Court, María Emilia Casas Baamonde, agreed to build a good cooperation between both courts.
In the same opportunity, Mahfud also officially invited Maria to join the Asian Constitutional Court Conference in July 2010 as a speaker which she accepted enthusiastically.
Different from the one in Indonesia, Spanish Constitutional Court only deals with reviewing of acts without any authority in dealing with election disputes. (Heru Setiawan / YDJ.tr)
Monday, December 14, 2009 | 15:09 WIB 385