National seminar on family law entitled “Study of Marriage Age Post-Constitutional Court Ruling,” collaboration between the Constitutional Court and IAIN Kudus on Friday (30/8/2019). Photo by Humas MK.

KUDUS, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—The Constitutional Court (MK) establish cooperation with State IAIN of Kudus. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by the Head of the Public Relations and Protocol Bureau of the Constitutional Court Heru Setiawan and the Rector of IAIN Kudus Mudzakir on Friday (30/08/2019) at IAIN Kudus, Central Java.

"For the Constitutional Court, cooperation with universities is no longer a demand, but a necessity within the Constitutional Court\'s journey," Heru said in the MoU signing event, in conjunction with the national seminar on the dynamics of family law entitled "Study of Marriage Age Post-Constitutional Court Ruling.".

Heru said that higher education is an important part of the development of science. The Constitutional Court and universities, especially the faculty of law, share things in common: working in academic authority, atmosphere, and traditions. The Constitutional Court emphasizes legal arguments based on legal logic, science, theory, and actually conducts reciprocal interactions between theory and reality.

Heru added that in a judicial review case, for example, the petition is built with strong legal arguments. So, the Constitutional Court\'s decisions also contain scientific dimension, theories, and adoption of experiences in law. The Constitutional Court\'s decisions are formed with scientific references such as books, legal encyclopedias, scientific journals, research results, which are basically the output of tertiary institutions. "In fact, the Constitutional Court has long been developing scientific journals to be a medium for developing ideas, especially in legal science," he said.

Heru also emphasized that the MoU also reflected the commitment of the two institutions to mutually support and strengthen each other\'s position in accordance with their respective functions. The Constitutional Court keeps trying to improve the citizens\' understanding of their constitutional rights as well as their constitutional awareness. "Through the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding with IAIN Kudus, the Court also takes responsibility and contributes to improving the quality of higher education in law," he explained.

At the end of his remarks, Heru hoped that the signing of the MoU be a significant milestone for the continuity of cooperation between the Constitutional Court and IAIN Kudus. He also explained a number of activities that both could collaborate on after the signing of the MOU: public lectures, focus group discussions, IAIN Kudus Festival, Constitutional Camp, Moot Court Competition, Constitutional Debating Competition, etc.

After the signing, a national seminar was also held with guest speaker the Head of the Legal and Registrar Administration Bureau Wiryanto of the Constitutional Court Wiryanto and the Rector of IAIN Kudus Mudzakir. The national seminar was to explore the constitutionality issues of marriage, especially the role of the Constitutional Court in protecting the constitutional rights of citizens, one of which on marriage. (Lulu Anjarsari)

Translated by: Yuniar Widiastuti