Discussion on final preparations of International Symposium held by Steering Committee in order to commemorate the anniversary of the 8th Constitutional Court on Monday (20/6) in 8th floor of the Court Building, Jakarta.

Steering Committee of International Symposium discusses the final preparation in 8th floor of Court Building (20/6). The symposium is to commemorate the anniversary of the 8th Constitutional Court. This activity is held by the Court in collaboration with the House of Representatives of Indonesia.

Participants of discussion are Chairman of the Constitutional Court, Moh. Mahfud MD, Harjono, Chairman of Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Agency (BKSAP) Hidayat Nur Wahid, and Vice Chairman of BKSAP Azwar Abubakar. In addition, it appears also Saldi Isra, Arif Hidayat and former constitutional judge I Dewa Gede Palguna. It also present from the Parliament secretariat.

On that occasion, Secretary General of the Constitutional Court Janedjri M. Gaffar explained several things related to the implementation of the symposium, mainly related to the theme, subtheme, basic thoughts that will be discussed at the symposium, the number of participants to the event schedule. For this symposium, the theme would be "Constitutional Democratic State".

According to Janedjri, there are three subthemes to discuss. First of all would be the role of Constitutional Court and Similar Institutions in Strengthening Democratic Principles. Secondly is Democratization of Act Process. Third is the Mechanism of Check and Balances between State Institutions. Three subthemes will be discussed in three sessions. Each session consists of three commissions. At each commission, subthemes will be discussed by speakers from each country representatives of the symposium participants.

The number of symposium participants up to now is 200 people. The speaker of this event exists are five people from the Constitutional Court, Parliament and four speakers from abroad. At least, for participants from abroad, it will be followed by Constitutional Court or similar institutions from 20 countries, the parliaments of eight nations, as well as ambassadors or representatives from 20 countries. As for participants from within the country, it consisting of representatives of the Constitutional Court, People Consultative Assembly, House of Representatives, Regional Representatives Council, Ministry of Law and Human Rights, Constitutional Forum, the Association of Teachers of Law on the Constitutional Court, HTN-HAN Teacher Association, Teachers of Social and Politic Faculty, and Legal Practitioners.

To support the success of this activity, Janedjri said, it also has established cooperation with several partners, such as: Secretariat General of Parliament, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Law and Human Rights, State Secretariat, National Policy, Presidential Security Forces, Referral Hospital, and many more. In fact, it is not only that, it has also provided a translator in various languages, such as: Indonesia, English, Arabic, German, Spanish, and Russian.

International symposium itself will be held on 10 to 14 of July, 2011, it takes place at Shangri-La Hotel, Jakarta. In addition, for subthemes discussion, participants will also be treated to arts and cultural performances and cultural programs. (Dodi/mh/Yazid.tr)