Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Anwar Usman attending the Judicial Conference of The Supreme Courts of The G20

Buenos Aires witnessed the first international conference of the judiciary of G20 member countries. The conference entitled Judicial Conference of the Supreme Courts of the G20 was an initiative taken by Argentina as the host of the G20 meeting.

The meeting discussed the important role of the judiciary in the development and implementation of a clean government. Therefore, an understanding of the views of the judicial institutions of the G20 member countries is needed, by exchanging information and experience in a joint forum.

Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Anwar Usman, who delivered a presentation on "Global Democracy and the Global Market," said that the implementation of democracy was closely related to the economic progress of a country. To drive the wheels of democracy, it requires a lot of funding. Therefore, he added, the index of the progress of democracy in a country cannot be separated from that of its economic progress. Without good progress and economic growth, it is impossible for democracy to work well.

He added, at present, democracy is developing in various countries anomalously. Democracy, which was originally expected to develop from the people, by the people, and to meet the needs of the people, is dominated by a small group people with capital. So it becomes elitist and only brings profits for a small number of people. If the free market applies without balanced terms and regulations, natural law will apply, in that whoever has the biggest capital will be the winner in the economic competition. For this reason, Justice Anwar added, in order to find solutions and a middle ground for the development of the current world, this conference became an important forum for sharing ideas, information, and experiences from each country.

Closing his presentation, Justice Anwar also expressed his gratitude to the countries who have given attention, assistance, and cooperation to Indonesia, which was currently being hit by earthquake and tsunami in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, and Palu, Central Sulawesi. The attention, assistance, and cooperation given in time of natural disasters are concrete manifestations of the care of the G20 countries towards civilization and humanity. (NK/LA/Yuniar Widiastuti)