Chief Justice Anwar Usman opening the Technical Assistance Program of the 2019 Elections Results Dispute Resolution for the National Awakening Party (PKB) on Monday (15/10/2018) at the Pancasila and Constitution Education Center, Cisarua, Bogor. Photo by Humas MK/Hamdi.

Chief Justice Anwar Usman opened and delivered a presentation in the Technical Assistance Program of the 2019 Elections Results Dispute Resolution for the National Awakening Party (PKB) on Monday-Wednesday (15-17/10/2018) at the Pancasila and Constitution Education Center, Cisarua, Bogor, West Java.

Justice Anwar said that Indonesia’s democracy is ever-changing. “Since independence, the electoral system and democracy have been implemented, but the system needs updates and evaluation according to the times,” he said before the 160 participants.

The 1955 election was praised both domestically and internationally, due to its honesty, fairness, and transparency, despite being Indonesia’s first election ever. However, elections after that seemed like a routine. Many experts even dubbed them lip service, only serving as a requirement for a democracy. Therefore, amendments to the 1945 were done to evaluate the Indonesian democracy and electoral process. The elections of today denote the democracy and nomocracy that the country holds after the amendments in 1999-2002. 

“This paradigm puts a label on our country as a constitutional democracy or a democratic rule of law (democratische rechstaat),” the Chief Justice said.

Justice Anwar said that Indonesia is often said to be one of the biggest democracies, third or fourth, in the world, with the United States of America on top of the list. It might be true about the U.S., but the Indonesian one man one vote election system could make Indonesia more democratic than the superpower U.S.

In order to guard the democratic process and achieve expected electoral results, Justice Anwar said cooperation and synergy among all state organs related to the elections—the General Elections Commission (KPU), the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu), the Election Organizer Ethics Council (DKPP), the Police, the Prosecution Office, the judiciary, the Constitutional Court, and all elements of the community—is needed. He also said that the success of election results dispute resolution in the Constitutional Court also depends on other stakeholders.

At the occasion, Justice Anwar also directed a message to party functionaries that politics is a pillar of democracy and key in the success of democratic 2019 elections. This is why the Court organizes the technical assistance program for political parties. The Court hopes for synergy among election organizers and other institutions for realizing the mandate of the 1945 Constitution in order to build a democratic rule of law.

Justice Anwar closed his presentation by expressing that the participants and the Constitutional Court can guard the electoral process together for democratic elections that adhere to the principles in the Constitution as well as in existing regulations. (Utami/LA/Yuniar Widiastuti)