Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra in the Seminar on Procedural Law of the Constitutional Court for West Sumatera Law Lecturers for the evaluation of the 2019 Simultaneous Elections Results Dispute (PHPU) Settlement in Padang, West Sumatera on Thursday (17/10). Photo by Humas MK/Ganie.

PADANG, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—The Constitutional Court (MK) collaborated with Andalas University of Padang to hold a program on the procedural law of the Constitutional Court for West Sumatera law lecturers for the evaluation of the 2019 Simultaneous Elections Results Dispute (PHPU) Settlement in Padang, West Sumatera on Thursday (17/10/2019).

In his address, Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra, who was a guest speaker along with Constitutional Justices Suhartoyo and I Dewa Gede Palguna, conveyed the objective of the activity. According to him, the program had been previously held by the Constitutional Court in collaboration with the Law Faculty of Andalas University in the past. "This year the Constitutional Court is ready to hold an event for lecturers who are concerned with procedural law, including the procedural law of the Constitutional Court," he explained.

Saldi explained that the program would discuss the developments in the procedural law of the Constitutional Court. "Why is this important? Because […] tertiary institutions generally rely on existing regulations or provisions, for example the procedural law, which is briefly contained in the Constitutional Court Law," he explained.

According to Justice Saldi, the procedural law is outlined by the Constitutional Court Regulations, but in practice, there had been a lot of developments. Some citizens who filed the petitions did not have legal standing, which is interesting to discuss.

"If someone explains it, it can actually be interesting [to see] the shifts in legal standing. […] Now there have been developments […]. Even minors can now fight for their rights represented by their parents, and the Constitutional Court has made a ruling on that, but [it is] not in the Constitutional Court Law," he said.

Justice Saldi gave another example. Citizens (who filed petitions related to taxation) used to only had to describe themselves as a taxpayer. However, now it is not enough because there are requirements for that. “For example, for a taxpayer, if the law that he/she [requested to] review is related to state finances, so there are such developments in practice. It would be actually interesting to hear from people who are directly involved and contribute in determining or making the procedural law,” he said.

Justice Saldi also hoped that the forum would become an annual event for people who are concerned about the Constitutional Court. He also hoped that the Constitutional Court could be like the United States Supreme Court, which every year held a meeting between Supreme Court justices, academics, and students. "They are invited to the United States Supreme Court to then listen to the presentation of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court who, in the question and answer session, involve other Supreme Court justices," he said. (Gani/LA)

Translated by: Yuniar Widiastuti