East Java UPN Veteran Law Faculty students visiting the Constitutional Court, Tuesday (9/4) at the Pancasila and Constitution Education Center. Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—142 law students of East Java UPN Veteran listened to the brief presentation on the History of the Constitutional Court on Tuesday afternoon (9/4/2019) at the Pancasila and Constitution Education Center. At first, they were played a video on the history of the Constitutional Court through Constitutional Cinema.

Next, Court researcher Nalom Kurniawan told the students of the history of the world’s constitutional courts. He started with the Austrian Constitutional Court, initiated in 1920 by Hans Kelsen. However, the first state that officially gave the Constitutional Court the authority to review laws is the Czech Republic. The Czech Constitutional Court had been established 27 months ahead of the Austrian, but the World War I had prevented it from exercising its authorities. “Therefore, the Austrian Constitutional Court is known as the first constitutional court in the world,” said Nalom, who is a researcher for Chief Justice Anwar Usman.

Next, Nalom introduced the students to the structure of the constitutional court of various countries. According to Nalom, the number of constitutional justices in each country varies, including in Indonesia. The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia (MKRI) consisted of 9 constitutional justices, who are nominated by the Government, the House, and the Supreme Court—each of which appoint three justices. "The constitutional justices in the Indonesian Constitutional Court [are appointed by] three different elements. They must fulfill statesmanship requirements," said Nalom. (Sri Pujianti/LA/Yuniar Widiastuti)