Students of the Syariah Faculty of UIN Walisongo Semarang visiting the Constitutional Court, Wednesday (27/2) in the Delegation Room of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—Students of the Syariah Faculty of the State Islamic University (UIN) Walisongo Semarang visited the Constitutional Court on Wednesday afternoon (27/2). The students and lecturers were welcomed by Court researcher Bisariyadi.

Bisariyadi detailed the history of the Constitutional Court of Indonesia, which started with the adoption of the idea of a constitutional court in the amendment of the Constitution by the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) in 2001, as stipulated in Article 24 paragraph (2), Article 24C, and Article 7B of the 1945 Third Amendment to the Constitution, which was passed on November 9, 2001. “The idea of establishing the Constitutional Court is one of the developments in modern law and state in the 20^th century,” Bisar said before the 200 students.

After the adoption of the Third Amendment to the 1945 Constitution, in order to await the establishment of the Constitutional Court, MPR determined that the Supreme Court (MA) carry out the functions of the Constitutional Court temporarily, as stipulated in Article III of the Transitional Provisions of the 1945 Constitution. The Government then drafted a bill on the Constitutional Court. After in-depth discussions, the House of Representatives and the Government jointly approved Law Number 24 of 2003 concerning the Constitutional Court on August 13, 2003.

Bisar explained further about state power. According to him, an absolute power only owned by one party has a tendency toward corruption. He cited the Nazi era in Germany from 1933 to 1945. At that time, power was held by one person, Adolf Hitler, so in Germany at that time corruption was prevalent. 

Based on these facts, said Bisar, power was divided into several branches. "There is power divided by three, known as trias politica, or divided by 4 or catur praja," he added. However, the system that is more widely adopted by countries in the world is trias politica. Trias politica divides power into three branches that tend to be balanced, i.e. the executive, legislative, and judiciary. He explained that the executive was a branch of government power led by the president as head of state, assisted by the vice president and ministers.

The legislative branch is referred to as the legislator. Before the 1945 Constitution was amended in 1999-2002, Indonesia only recognized one branch of legislative power called the House of Representatives (DPR). After the amendment to the 1945 Constitution, another legislative body was formed, namely the Regional Representatives Council (DPD).

Unlike the House whose members are political parties, DPD consists of representatives of each province. However, DPD is limited to making regional regulations, such as village regulations and regulations on regional autonomy. 

The last branch is the judiciary. Before the amendment to the 1945 Constitution, Indonesia only had one judicial institution, the Supreme Court (MA). In line with constitutional amendments, Constitutional Court was formed in 2003. 

The Constitutional Court has four authorities, that is, examining laws against the 1945 Constitution, deciding on authority dispute of state institutions, deciding on the dissolution of political parties, and deciding on disputes over general/regional election results. The Court is also obliged to decide on the House’s opinion of alleged violation committed by the president and/or vice president. (Nano Tresna Arfana/LA/Yuniar Widiastuti)