Secretary General M. Guntur Hamzah (right) presenting certificate to the UNAIR team who won the Eastern Regions of the 12^th Indonesian Varsity Constitutional Debate Competition 2019 organized by the Constitutional Court on Saturday (13/4/2019) at Sam Ratulanggi University, Manado. Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

MANADO, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—Airlangga University (UNAIR) won the Eastern Regions of the 12^th Indonesian Varsity Constitutional Debate Competition 2019 organized by the Constitutional Court on Saturday (13/4/2019) at Sam Ratulanggi University, Manado. They won after defeating Surabaya University (Ubaya) in the finals with the motion “Legal Standing of Foreign Nationals in Judicial Review of Laws.”

At the closing ceremony, Secretary General M. Guntur Hamzah said that the competition was organized because it realized the vision and mission of the Constitutional Court and well-received by universities. He said that the Court cannot realize them alone, as they need partners. Universities are intellectual partners for the Court, which are often said to be friends of the Court. The event is a collaboration between universities and the Court.

In addition, the Court would like the participants to continue learning the law so that some will grow up to be constitutional justices. It also provides participants the opportunity to hone their skills and actualize themselves. All of this will help building Indonesia’s constitutionalism and constitutional awareness, which will lead to the enforcement of the Constitution through modern, reliable judiciary. Meanwhile, UNSRAT Law Faculty Dean Flora Kalalo expressed her hope that the students will be a strategic party that will disseminate the importance of Pancasila values to others.

First through fourth winners of the eastern regions constitutional debate competition were Airlangga University of Surabaya, Surabaya University (Ubaya), Muhammadiyah Malang University, and Sam Ratulangi University of Manado, respectively. Winners of each regional competition will face off at the national finals in August 2019. (Ifa/LA/Yuniar Widiastuti)