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Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbaningsih delivering a presentation about the Constitutional Court and the constitutional rights of women in a program for improving citizens’ understanding of constitutional rights for interfaith women activists. Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

BOGOR, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—On the second day of the program for improving citizens’ understanding of constitutional rights for interfaith women activists, Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbaningsih talked about the Constitutional Court and the constitutional rights of women.

"There is never a difference between men and women, except ourselves who distinguish [between them]. This actually happened to me in the Constitutional Court, where the majority of constitutional justices are male, but I am not underestimated. This shows that there is indeed no difference and instead guarantee of women\'s rights," said the UGM Yogyakarta Professor.

The Constitutional Court is the biological child of the Reformation, Enny added. It is the most important part in protecting individual rights because the Court is able to control and acts as a counterweight in state life.

"[As] the Constitutional Court exists, we all get the citizens’ rights: to express opinions and so on. In addition, the Parliament and the President cannot pass arbitrary laws and must be careful. The proof is that the KPK Law, which has [not yet enacted], was immediately reviewed in the Constitutional Court by students. This illustrates that the presence of the Constitutional Court is really very longed for by all Indonesian citizens because it is the protector and guardian of democracy," Enny said on Wednesday (16/10/2019).

Enny also explained four authorities and one obligation of the Constitutional Court. The authorities are examining laws against the 1945 Constitution, deciding on authority dispute among state institutions, deciding on the dissolution of political parties, and deciding on disputes over election results. The Court is also obligated to decide on the House’s opinion on an alleged violation of law committed by the president and/or vice president. She also said that the Constitutional Court acts as guardian of the Constitution, guardian of democracy, guardian of Pancasila state ideology, and protector of human rights.

“Norm constitutionality issues can also be filed to the Constitutional Court, not the Supreme Court. Judicial review of laws, formally and materially, is the highest number of cases in the Constitutional Court,” she revealed.

Guarantee of Citizens\' Rights

Judhariksawan, an expert on International Law and Human Rights, delivered a presentation on the guarantee of citizens’ constitutional rights of according to the 1945 Constitution. In his presentation, he said that the state must guarantee the rights of citizens and educate the nation.

"Is the state currently guaranteeing people\'s rights in accordance with the 1945 Constitution? Not for all yet. Our country\'s system is based on a democratic system that has sovereignty of the people but the prosperity of the people is still not guaranteed at all," said the Professor of Hasanuddin University, Makassar.

Human Rights was first recognized in the world in 1948 after the Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948 made by the wife of the American president at the time, who observed the discrimination in the Second World War. "Human rights are a set of rights inherent in human beings as God\'s creatures and are His gifts that must be respected, upheld, and protected by the state, law, government, and everyone for the protection of human dignity," he explained.

Judhariksawan also explained the basic principles of human rights that universal or for all humans. The second principle is equality. The third principle is no discrimination, no human rights can be revoked, and mutual responsibility. "[You] can find human rights in the 1945 Constitution in Article 28 letter A to Article 28 letter J," explained the former chairman of the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission.

Any severe human rights violation, such as genocide and crimes against humanity, should be reported to the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM). "However, if it cannot be resolved at Komnas HAM, we can report it to the UN Human Rights Council in the Hague, the Netherlands," he concluded.

History of the Constitution

Constitutional Court researcher Nalom Kurniawan talked about the constitution or constitutionalism starting from ancient Greece, Roman era, the medieval era, the Renaissance, and modern constitutions that are democratic. Indonesia implements modern constitutionalism where there is limitation to power, it is national and democracy.

"The characteristics of states embracing constitutionalism must have law and must guarantee and not violate the rights of citizens. This was the opinion of C. J. Baxter and Van der Tang, who believed in modern constitutionalism," he explained.

Democracy has an inherent defects where the majority rules. This can lead to the tyranny of the majority against the minority. In the past until the New Order, democracy and the majority votes won. Then, finally, there is the supremacy of law that controls the sovereignty of the people. "So, within constitutionalism, the principles of the Constitution must be kept alive," he added.

Substitute Registrar Mardian delivered a presentation about the state administration system according to the 1945 Constitution. Mardian began by explaining the origins of the Pancasila draft in the BPUPK (Investigating Committee for Preparatory Works for Independence) session, the designation of the body of the Constitution in the BPUPK session, to the pronunciation of the proclamation and ratification of the 1945 Constitution.

"Indonesian independence was clearly not granted by Japan. So, Indonesia\'s independence was legitimate because we take our own nation or country. So, in the proclamation in the opening of the Constitution, Indonesian Independence is the right of all nations," he said. (Panji/LA)

Translated by: Yuniar Widiastuti

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