Secretary General M. Guntur Hamzah explaining SIKD and its implementation at the Constitutional Court, Thursday (25/7/2019) at the Meeting Room on the 11th floor of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Mantox.
JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—Ombudsman visited the Constitutional Court (MK) on Thursday morning (25/7/2019) at the Meeting Room of the Constitutional Court. The delegation led by Head of Public Relations and IT Bureau Wanton Sidauruk was welcomed by Secretary General M. Guntur Hamzah and Head of the Center for Research, Case Review, and Library Management Rubiyo; Head of Planning and Financial Bureau Tatang Garjito; Head of the General Bureau Mulyono; Inspector Pawit Haryanto; Head of the Legal and Registrar Administration Bureau Wiryanto; Head of the Pancasila and Constitution Education Center Kurniasih Panti Rahayu; and several IT and archive staff members.
Wanton said that his delegation would like to learn about the implementation of the Dynamic Archival Information System (SIKD) in the Registrar’s Office and Secretariat General of the Constitutional Court. In response, Guntur shared the experience of implementing SIKD in the Court since 2017. He said that since the establishment of the Court, the first Chief Justice Jimly Asshiddiqie meant the Court to become a modern, transparent, and trustworthy judicial institution. He believed that SIKD is a step to becoming a modern institution. “This is in line with the electronic-based judiciary that the Government aspires to. The Constitutional Court has long been using video conference in universities, despite much support and opposition,” said Guntur.
Guntur said that the biggest challenge was to overcome the doubts over the success of SIKD among staff. He talked about the common misconception that piling documents equals hard work. “While in fact, we have to work hard and smart,” he stressed.
Therefore, Guntur added, the leadership’s commitment is imperative in overcoming this challenge. Leaders must urge the implementation of SIKD. “If necessary, do not tolerate any request for handwritten signatures; [urge] the use of digital signatures,” he said.
Although many challenges lie ahead, Guntur said that the implementation of SIKD has many benefits. First, digital signatures will replace handwritten ones. This, he added, will help create a culture of SIKD use. He stressed that digital signatures and electronic documents are equally legitimate to handwritten signatures or what is known as original valid authentic (OVO).
“Electronic signatures or electronic documents [are] Authentic Original Valid (OVO) and the authenticity is easier to identify. The electronic signatures cannot be falsified, especially as the Constitutional Court has cooperated with BSSN [National Cyber and Encryption Agency] regarding authenticity checks and [it] can be directly identified through the QR Code," said Guntur.
Another big impact of the use of SIKD in the Constitutional Court is the efficient use of paper (less paper office) because all the files have been transferred into files. SIKD also reduces the amount of file buildup. Guntur also added that the advantage of SIKD is time and space. "Correspondence work can be done anytime and anywhere," he said.
Guntur said that the Constitutional Court implemented SIKD from ANRI (National Archives of the Republic of Indonesia) since 2017. However, he added, some changes were made by the Constitutional Court regarding the application of SIKD to suit the Court’s needs, including the draft of official documents, integration of letter numbers, and digital signature certification. "We developed the SIKD application to adjust the needs of the Constitutional Court," he said.
During the two years of the use of SIKD within the Registrar\'s Office and the Secretariat General of the Constitutional Court, 12,063 letters of proposal; 99,763 follow-up letters; and 12,936 digital files were uploaded in the system; with 361 active users.
Prioritizing Transparency
Guntur also explained the features in the Constitutional Court\'s website, which are part of the Court\'s vision to become a modern and transparent judiciary. He also recommended that if the Ombudsman were to become a transparent institution, it must be open to the public. The Court has done this by preparing various features on the website (mkri.id) that can be accessed by the public. Guntur exemplified the LHKPN (official wealth report) feature that is integrated with the reporting system owned by the KPK. This LHKPN feature is integrated with SIGAPP (Employees and Officials’ Salary Information System), which contains the amount of salary and benefits of all employees and officials within the Registrar’s Office and Secretariat General of the Constitutional Court.
"What is needed by the public regarding the Constitutional Court can be accessed through the Constitutional Court\'s website. Related to transparency, the German Constitutional Court praised the transparency of MKRI. The German Constitutional Court [makes public] only the initial session at the beginning. The proceedings are closed, unlike MKRI, which opens its proceedings in general to the public," he said.
This statement was confirmed by Head of the Public Relations and IT Bureau of the Ombudsman Wanton Sidauruk after seeing and hearing the direct presentation of SIKD and its application in the Constitutional Court. He expressed his admiration at the Court’s transparency. "I originally thought transparency only means [openness]. However, when I saw that the salaries of the employees were also accessible to the public, I came to think that the level of transparency of the Constitutional Court was far different," he said.
In addition, related to the presentation of SIKD and its implementation, Wanton mentioned that from its philosophy and practice, the Constitutional Court had demonstrated good governance. "It\'s not wrong that the Court is one of the best technology-based modern justice systems. Transparency and even salaries and LHKPN can be accessed by the public, MK’s transparency level already looks different and must be emulated," he said.
SIKD application serves to support the Government\'s National Medium Term Development Plan (RPJMN) program within the framework of e-Government, namely the orderly management of electronic records in each ministry/agency of the central and regional government, universities, and state-/region-owned enterprise (BUMN/BUMD). In addition, this application is very important in documenting recorded information in each institution and managing archives that are created. The SIKD application has been widely used by ministries/agencies, universities, BUMN and BUMD, and Provincial and Regency/City archive institutions. (Lulu Anjarsari)
Translated by: Yuniar Widiastuti
Thursday, July 25, 2019 | 14:03 WIB 303