---

Constitutional Court researcher Nallom Kurniawan welcoming the Law Faculty of Diponegoro University, Friday (30/8) in the Delegation Room. Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—Constitutional Court (MK) researcher Nallom Kurniawan welcomed 50 Law Faculty students of Diponegoro University, Friday (30/8/2019). "The Constitutional Court was born out of the Students Movement in 1998," Nallom said at the beginning of the meeting.

Why did the Constitutional Court need to be established in Indonesia? Nallom explained, before the amendment to the 1945 Constitution, judicial power was underestimated and the executive power was very dominant. In addition, parliament or legislators and the executive were the interpreters of the Constitution. 

"Finally, the people saw the needs for a balancing institution. We had had adopted a parliamentary system that felt presidential, because the parliament submitted to the President. Meanwhile, today [the country subscribes to] the presidential system that feels like a parliamentary one," Nallom explained next to moderator Farhan from Undip. 

Nallom said that the paradigm in the years before the Reform in Indonesia is that democracy only relied on popular sovereignty. Because people\'s sovereignty was more preferred, the parliament was placed as the highest state institution. 

"After amendment to the 1945 Constitution, Indonesia still adheres to a democratic system but it is not the only system. There is also a principle of sovereignty called nomocracy. So [Indonesia] juxtaposes the democratic and nomocratic systems. In effect, there is no longer the highest state institution. All state institutions are equal, the only difference is their functions," said Nallom. 

The Constitutional Court in Indonesia is expected to change the culture of the people. The judiciary is passive, only able to work when there is a petition or lawsuit. That is the principle of the judiciary, not only in Indonesia, but also around the world. "This means that changes in the culture of the people means understanding the constitutional rights of citizens," Nallom stressed. 

Nallom also said that the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia was formed on August 13, 2003 as the 78th Constitutional Court in the world. The first Constitutional Court is the Austrian Constitutional Court, established in 1920 based on the ideas of legal expert Hans Kelsen. However, the Czech Constitutional Court was actually the first one, established about seven months earlier than the Austrian Constitutional Court. 

The Marbury v. Madison case in 1803 in the United States was often considered the world\'s first judicial review. However, the first judicial review in the world was the train tax dispute case Hayton v. USA. 

The need to review laws was first proposed by Mohammad Yamin in 1945. However, his proposal was rejected by Soepomo. After going through the Reform, amendment to the 1945 Constitution, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia was finally officially formed in 2003. 

Nallom also talked about to the decisions of the Constitutional Court related to development and that are concerned with the lives of the people. "The decisions of the Constitutional Court are brave. For example, when the Constitutional Court was first established, the Court annulled the Electricity Law. In addition, the Constitutional Court canceled the Water Resource Law so that water resources cannot be dominated by the private sector. There is also the Constitutional Court\'s decision on the Education Law related to the education funding budget," said Nallom. (Nano Tresna Arfana/NRA)

Translated by: Yuniar Widiastuti

---