The Constitutional Court (MK) held the Working Meeting 2017 on Thursday (23/11) at Aruna Senggigi Hotel, Lombok. Photo by Humas MK/Ganie.
The Constitutional Court (MK) held the Working Meeting 2017 on Thursday (23/11) at Aruna Senggigi Hotel, Lombok. The meeting was held for the evaluation and preparation of the handling of the 2018 simultaneous elections cases and attended by the eight constitutional justices, the Secretary General, Clerks, and 96 employees of the Registrar\'s Office and the General Secretariat of the Constitutional Court.
In his speech, Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, Arief Hidayat, who opened the Working Meeting 2017, said that there is an important agenda to discuss related to the Constitutional Regulation (PMK) draft related to regional election disputes (PHP Kada) 2018. Justice Arief stated that Simultaneous Regional Elections 2018 will be greater than those in the previous years. He also stated that as many as 171 regions will participate in the elections of regional heads next year. Of the 171 regions, there are 17 provinces, 39 cities, and 115 districts that will hold elections in 2018. "There are big provinces like West Java, East Java, and others. However, the Court did not significantly influence the handling of cases. Whatever the constellation will be, the Constitutional Court will continue to perform its role," Justice Arief explained.
Justice Arief also asserted that the Court does not participate in practical politics, so PHP Kada 2018 should proof the independence of the Constitutional Court. "In the hands of the Constitutional Court it will be realized. This will be a big asset in meeting the 2018 elections that are considered more dynamic. Moreover, the Court has experience handling PHP Kada twice in 2015 and 2017," he explained.
Furthermore, Justice Arief explained the discussion of PMK planned to complete several articles and paragraphs mainly related to PHP Kada. According to him, the discussion is very important to anticipate the gaps that could be the \'weakness\' of the Court. "The Court must be conscientious and prudent to anticipate gaps that can be weakness of PMK draft," he added.
Justice Arief also said, reflecting this year\'s negative experience related to the loss of petition files, the Constitutional Court will anticipate it by monitoring the traffic of petition files and uploading the petition files to the Constitutional Court website. He said that this is also part of public transparency. "All internal systems have been able to anticipate better. Zero tolerance to deviations. Let there not be any miscommunication. The Court must prove the solidity of the system built and of coordination built internally," said the Professor of Diponegoro University.
Meanwhile, Secretary General of the Constitutional Court M. Guntur Hamzah said that the working meeting was important because of the agenda of Simultaneous Regional Elections in 2018. Moreover, Guntur continued, the Constitutional Court took part through the implementation of the authority of PHP Kada. "It takes planning to deal with the agenda because that is why this working meeting is done. There are two main agenda: to evaluate the performance of the Registrar\'s Office and the Secretariat General as well as to discuss PMK for the smooth preparation of PHP Kada," Guntur explained.
He stressed the importance of PMK that not only serves as the heart, but also the barometer of the readiness of the Constitutional Court in the face of Simultaneous Regional Elections 2018. Later, continued Guntur, the results of the meeting will be delivered in the final session.
Public Transparency
In his presentation on the performance of the Registrar\'s Office and the General Secretariat of the Constitutional Court, Guntur stated that the Constitutional Court has released the annotation feature within the Constitutional Court website. It contains Annotations of Laws based on the Constitutional Court\'s Decision. "This annotation is already printed and the public can read it on the website by clicking on the annotation feature. It is a more efficient and effective way for the public to access the laws. And every time constitutional justices decide a case, the annotation is automatically uploaded," explained the Professor of Hasanudin University, Makassar.
In addition, Guntur explained that the transcript feature on the Constitutional Court website had been updated. The update adopts the transcript feature on the United States Supreme Court website. "The transcript feature is the same as that of the United States Supreme Court. So, not only in the form of transcripts, but also in the form of audio files," Guntur said.
Guntur described another update on the Constitutional Court website, namely the Regional Elections 2018 feature which later will facilitate litigants to search a case. This feature is a form of accountability of the Constitutional Court to Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) regarding e-transcript. "All documents that have been made will coincide with the completion of transcript of the case. The public can track to what extent the case is already under way. The public has a right of to know about cases handled by the Court," he explained.
Organizational Structuring
In session I on the Report of the Performance of the Registrar’s Office and the Secretariat General of the Constitutional Court Year 2017 and Preparation of Handling of Dispute Cases on the Result of Elections of Governors, Regents, and Mayors of Year 2015, Guntur revealed some matters related to the performance and institution of the Constitutional Court in 2017. One of the matters is about the organizational structuring and operation of the Court. The organizational structuring is based on the dynamics and demands of the increasing public service needs of justice seekers to the bureaucratic performance of the Registrar\'s and the Secretariat General. The development of structure and organization becomes inevitable in 2017.
"Therefore, in order to respond to the existing dynamics and developments, Presidential Regulation No. 65/2017 on the Second Amendment of Presidential Regulation No. 49/2012 on the Registrar and the Secretariat General of the Constitutional Court has been issued. With the issuance of the new Presidential Regulation, the previous organizational structure consisting of 1 echelon I, 6 echelon II, 13 echelon III, and 23 echelon IV, there was an organization development at the echelon II level with the addition of 3 people (9 people in total), at the echelon III with the addition of 4 people (17 people in total), and the addition of echelon IV as many as 8 people (31 people in total)," Guntur explained.
In the new organizational structure, the Registrar’s Office will consist of Clerk, Junior Clerk I, Junior Clerk II, and Junior Clerk III. The Secretariat General of the Constitutional Court will consist of the Anti-Corruption Inspectorate and Committee, Planning and Finance Bureau, Human Resources and Organization Bureau, Registrar Administration Bureau, Public Relations and Protocol Bureau, General Bureau, Center for Case Studies, as well as Library Management, Information Technology Center, Communication and Data, and the Pancasila and Constitution Education Center.
The Working Meeting 2017 will last for three days (23-25/11). The next material to discuss is the amendments to the Constitutional Court Regulation (PMK). (Lulu Anjar/Yuniar Widiastuti)
Thursday, November 23, 2017 | 15:24 WIB 126