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Constitutional Court Registrar Muhidin opening the 2019 Constitutional Moot Court Competition Western Regionals, Tuesday (1/10) at Lampung University. Photo by Humas MK/Bayu.

LAMPUNG, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—The Constitutional Court (MK) in collaboration with Tarumanagara University and the Association of Lecturers on Procedural Law of the Constitutional Court (APHAMK) organized the 2019 Constitutional Moot Court Competition Western Regionals and a national seminar on "Constitutional Approach and Human Rights Perspectives on Public Information Exempt from Disclosure" on Tuesday (1/10/2019), at the University of Lampung, Lampung. The event was opened by Constitutional Court Registrar Muhidin.

In his keynote speech representing Chief Constitutional Justice Anwar Usman, Muhidin explained that the information era is now a key aspect of human life. "Information has become a commodity and strength, because of the development of information technology and because information has a basis in a democratic country that provides guarantees for citizens\' constitutional rights," he explained.

Muhidin said that one of the basic principles in a democratic country is the recognition and guarantee of the rights of citizens to be informed of all matters relating to the management of national and state life. "Then the people have the right to know how state power is exercised by the state administrators. In other words, public information disclosure in a democratic country is a necessity," he said. The fulfillment of the public\'s right to information is the responsibility of the state to the public, who have given the state authority through the Constitution. With this disclosure, justice for all citizens can be achieved.

Given the importance of public information disclosure, the right to information and communication are recognized as human rights. Article 28F of the 1945 Constitution states that everyone has the right to communicate and obtain information. This provision show the importance of information for everyone related to state administration and in develop personal and group lives.

It is the state’s responsibility to promote, guarantee, fulfill, and protect these rights through transparency in state administration. Freedom of information as a basis for public information disclosure is also guaranteed in Article 14 of Law Number 39 of 1999 concerning Human Rights and Law Number 14 of 2008 concerning Public Information Openness.

The 1945 Constitution can limit human rights by taking into account the conditions carried out by law. However, that is not enough. Through Decision Number 33/PUU-XIII/2015, the Constitutional Court provides a constitutional interpretation of Article 28J paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution concerning constitutional guidelines in limiting human rights.

Representing Secretary General M. Guntur Hamzah, Head of the Public Relations and Domestic Cooperation Department Fajar Laksono said that this annual competition was the sixth but the regionals was the first. "It is first time [for the competition] to be held regionally. The regional competition was kick-started with a national seminar in order to add new insights to those who competed," he said.

Unila rector Hasriadi Mat Akin expressed gratitude to the Constitutional Court for entrusting Unila to host the regionals. "To oversee this [moot court] is one of the ways to produce graduates who master constitutional law and its implementation," he explained.

National Seminar

The national seminar was part of the opening event of the 2019 Constitutional Moot Court Competition Western Regionals. It was moderated by Unila Law Faculty lecturer Yusdiyanto. Constitutional Justice of 2008-2013 Achmad Sodiki explained public information disclosure. In a rule of law, every citizen should know be aware of the law, in order to realize a safe, peaceful, and prosperous state.

"This information transparency is important for the public to know so that they know their rights and obligations as good citizens, at the same time as social control over power, because of potential abuse of power from holders of power that harm society," he said.

Public information that is legally exempt from disclosure, Sodiki added, includes that which cannot be disclosed by the public agencies (Article 6 paragraph (3)) as referred to in Article 1 of this Law is that which could endanger the state, information related to the interests of business protection from unfair business competition, information related to personal rights, related to confidential positions, etc.

Commissioner for Public Information Dispute Resolution of the Central Information Commission (KIP) Arif Adi Kuswardono states that information must be announced without delay, because it involves many people and public order. "This means that the information that must be announced right after any occurrence that can threaten the lives of many people and public order," he said.

Confidential public information that cannot be accessed by the public in accordance with the criteria set out in Article 17 of the Public Information Openness Law. Meanwhile, Unila Law Faculty lecturer Zulkarnain Ridlwan said that it is possible to set restrictions to the right to information, as long as it was carried out by the state in accordance with the laws and regulations. Therefore, there are no human rights in Indonesia that are absolute and without limits, especially the right to information in Article 28F of the 1945 Constitution, that every person has the right to communicate and obtain information to develop his personal and social environment and has the right to seek, obtain, own, store, process, and deliver information using all available channels. (Bayu/LA)

Translated by: Yuniar Widiastuti

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