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President of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo accompanied by Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Arief Hidayat, Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo, and Rector of Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Karsidi, officially opened the International Symposium of the Association of Asian Constitutional Courts and Equivalent Institutions (AACC) on Wednesday (9/8) at UNS, Solo, Central Java. Photo by PR/Ganie.

"Pancasila becomes a national consensus because it contains ethical truth values ​​rooted in the cultural and religious values ​​​​that live and are upheld by the people of this nation since long before the establishment of an independent Indonesian state," said President Joko Widodo when opening the international symposium of the Indonesian Constitutional Court (MK) 2017, at Universitas Sebelas Maret, Wednesday (09/08).

According to Joko Widodo, Pancasila is the state ideology that is a collective agreement on how the nation achieves common goals as well as solves the nation\\'s problems on different philosophical and cultural values, on the basis of ethnicity, race, regionalism, and religion.

The president, who is familiarly called Jokowi, on that occasion, appreciated the role of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia in the international social scene. "For that, let\\'s use this forum to contribute to upholding the ideology of Pancasila, informing the world that Indonesia has Pancasila and that with its values, Indonesia can contribute to realizing a peaceful civilization of the world, building a spirit of constitutionalism, and developing a spirit of unity in diversity throughout the world," said President Joko Widodo.

Chief Justice Hoped AACC\\'s New President Would Bring Progress

The Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, Arief Hidayat, in his speech said that this international symposium is in conjunction with the Board of Members Meeting (BoMM) of the Association of Asian Constitutional Courts and Equivalent Institutions (AACC) held on Tuesday August 8, 2017.

According to Arief, the meeting of the AACC BoMM held in Indonesia this time is the continuation of the Third AACC Congress held in Bali on August 10, 2016. In the Third Congress in Bali, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia received the mandate to continue leading the AACC for the following year until the next election of the new AACC president. In the 2017 BoMM, the AACC members agreed that the Malaysian Constitutional Court would be the next AACC President to replace the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia.

Along with the appointment of the Constitutional Court of Malaysia, Arief hoped that in the future AACC would be stronger in establishing global-regional cooperation in the fields related to the realization of state structure that upholds the principles of democracy, human rights, constitutionalism, togetherness, and peace.

Arief considered that the 2017 international symposium of constitutional courts on the topic "Ideology and Constitution in a Plural or Heterogeneous Society" was very apt. "This is a very relevant theme to discuss, especially for Indonesia and other countries that are highly diverse," said Arief.

Arief further said, as the functions and duties of the Constitutional Court was to guard the 1945 Constitution, basically the Constitutional Court also served as the guardian of ideology, because in the 1945 Constitution it was stated that the 1945 Constitution consisted of Preamble and articles. "The two parts are one unity, which is a philosophical description of the foundation and ideology of Pancasila that animates them. Thus, when exercising the Court’s authority to review a law against the Constitution, the basis for examining the constitutionality of the law is not only the articles of the Constitution, but also the Preamble, which is imbued with the values ​​of Pancasila," said Arief, who is also a Professor of Law at Diponegoro University.

With differences in each country, Arief felt that the Indonesian Constitutional Court needed to learn of the experiences of each participant who would present their materials in this symposium. "Given the differences in terms of history, political system, legal system, and ideology adopted, I believe that the Constitutional Courts in other countries has different roles and experiences. So, it would be interesting to learn of these experiences, especially when the Indonesian Constitutional Court is faced with ideological issues in our diverse society," he said.

The main topic of the international symposium is divided into three subtopics. The first session of the day will take up the subtopic of "The Constitutional Court and Ideology of the State." On Thursday (10/08) the second subtopic will be "The Constitutional Court and the Principles of Democracy," and the last session will discuss the subtopic of"The Role of Constitutional Court in a Plural Society.”

After attending the 2017 international constitutional court symposium, participants will follow a cultural program that has been prepared by the Indonesian Constitutional Court in cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism, to introduce the delegations to the diverse Indonesian cultures and traditions.

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