Secretary General MK Janedjri M. Gaffar and Chief of Law Division (Kadishum)

Secretary General MK Janedjri M. Gaffar close the colloquium with theme "Increasing Constitutional Understanding and Procedural Law Officers of the Constitutional Court for the Navy," at the Hotel Aryaduta, Jakarta, Sunday (12/6). The event was held on the cooperation between the Court and the headquarters of the Indonesian National Army Navy (TNI AL), 10-12 June 2011.

On that occasion, Janedjri states the Court conducted judicial review of the Act against the 1945 Constitution, the institution ensure that there should be no laws that come out of the corridor of the constitution. In addition, the Court also seeks to uphold the constitution as the supreme law of the land in structuring social life, political, economic, legal, and cultural.

In front of Kadishum First Admiral of the Navy Purnomo and about 200 officers from various regions in Indonesia, Janedjri said that when there is a law being applied and it can be proved in the trial Court that the Act is not in harmony with the constitution, then the law must be canceled. "Although the legal product is made by a majority of members of parliament and president, who actually is elected by the people directly, but the Court has an obligation to cancel it," he said. Janedjri is Doctoral Candidate from Diponegoro University, Semarang.

Janedjri also address how the integration of the nation began to shake with the rise of primordial actions, sectarianism, and the radicalism that provide a sense of discomfort in the life of nation and state. Therefore, he proposed that the constitution which is a collective agreement and the supreme law of the state should be placed to straighten the disharmony and deviant law and public behavior.

Regarding the politic of law development, Janedjri said that Pancasila is the basis for achieving the goal of providing four guiding principles. The law should aim and ensure nation integrity, simultaneously build democracy and nomocracy, build social justice, and build a civilized religious tolerance.

Therefore, according Janedjri, the law in Indonesia should aim and guarantee the territorial integrity of either nation or ideology. The law in Indonesia must not contain content that could potentially lead to the disintegration of the region or ideology. "As a result, the Court found significance in maintaining the national integrity of Indonesia," explained Janedjri.

More importantly, according to Janedjri, democracy system or popular sovereignty must also be built within the boundaries of nomocracy or legal sovereignty. In this case, the usage of the concept of democratic constitutional state of democracy should be governed by the law, while the law itself is determined by the ways of democracy based on the constitution.

Before closing the show, Janedjri hope with this colloquium the members of the Navy better understand history, substance, function of the constitution, and MK as well as the latest developments of state structures and practices within the frame of the Unitary State of Republic of Indonesia. (Shohibul Umam /mh/Yazid.tr)