Constitutional Court researcher Nalom Kurniawan speaking to Suryakancana University Cianjur (UNSUR) law students, Tuesday (6/11). Photo by Humas MK/Ganie.

First and third year law students of the Suryakancana University Cianjur (UNSUR) visited the Constitutional Court on Tuesday (6/11/2018). They were welcomed by Constitutional Court researcher Nalom Kurniawan, accompanied by UNSUR constitutional law lecturers Dedi Mulyadi, M. Rendi Aridhayandi, and Asep Hasanudin.

In his address, Dedi explained that the visit to the Constitutional Court was to broaden the student’s insights of legal practices. Dedi revealed that UNSUR Law Faculty had implemented a multisystem so that students no longer sit in conventional, written examinations but are involved in a short film project that is then shared on social media. He said that not only do the students learn the theory but also from practical experience told by legal experts. Therefore, he hoped that the students would learn legal practices from the Constitutional Court.

Starting his presentation, Nalom corrected a common mistake of material on history of the constitutional court, as usually Marbury v. Madison case in 1803 is said to be the first judicial review case, when in fact judicial review began in the United States Supreme Court with the case of Daniel Lawrence Hylton v. the United States Government in 1796. The Supreme Court rejected the petition judicial review of the Tax Law on tax on rail carriages in 1794. 

He also said that educators often mistakenly revealed that the first constitutional court is that of Austria, which started to operate in 1920. In fact, the Czech Constitutional Court is the first one in the world, but due to war, the Austrian Constitutional Court ended up operating earlier.

He explained the differences between the Constitutional Court of Indonesia and that of other countries. Although learning from other constitutional courts, the Constitutional Court of Indonesia has its own mechanism. In other countries, only legal and government entities can file a petition to the Constitutional Court, but in Indonesia individuals also can, as long as their constitutional right is violated by a certain law. “In other countries, individual right falls into constitutional complaint, but in Indonesia personal interest will influence public interest,” Nalon explained.

To the prospective law graduates, Nalom also emphasized the importance of understanding constitutional rights. He gave an example of a court ruling that corruption ex-convicts could run as legislative candidates. "The Constitutional Court does not nullify the limitation of the right because it would mean that the Constitutional Court has abandoned the right of the people to vote,” he said. 

The students then visited the Constitutional Library and Constitution History Center (Puskon) to learn the history of the Indonesian Constitutions through dioramas. (Sri Pujianti/LA/Yuniar Widiastuti)