Deputy Chief Justice Aswanto hitting the gong to open Gebyar Konstitusi event, Thursday (24/10) at the Baharuddin Lopa Building, Hasanuddin University, Makassar. Photo by Humas MK/Ilham.

MAKASSAR, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—Deputy Chief Constitutional Justice Aswanto opening the Gebyar Konstitusi event, Thursday (24/10/2019) at the Baharuddin Lopa Building, Hasanuddin University, Makassar. The event was collaboration between the Constitutional Court, Hasanuddin University, and the Cooperation Agency of Law Faculty Deans of State Universities in Indonesia. Justice Aswanto also participated as a keynote speaker in the national seminar on "The Direction of National Law Development and Human Resources Development in Law Enforcement" part of the Gebyar Konstitusi event.

"The nation\'s values in the grundnorm and staatfundamentalnorm must be a source of national legal development," Justice Aswanto said before academics from various universities who attended the seminar. He said further, legal norms must be implemented in society in accordance with the values therein so that people have the law. However, global and technology developments cannot be ignored.

Aswanto explained that Indonesia has adopted human rights in the development of national law. According to him, human rights are a universal concept but some countries adopt the concept of relative particularistic human rights. Indonesia adopts that concept as well to fit the values prevailing in Indonesia, although Indonesia must also not ignore the progress of other sectors.

Justice Aswanto added that the current written legal norms are sometimes not in accordance with the values adopted by Indonesia. Therefore, the Constitutional Court in the Indonesian constitutional system overcomes the non-conformity of norms through the judicial review of laws. According to him, the Constitutional Court serves to safeguard the Constitution, which contains the values of the Indonesian people. "So, when there is a law, as an implementation of the Constitution, that deviates [from the Constitution], it is the duty of the Constitutional Court to maintain its purity," he said.

He also stated that all elements of the nation must take part in the national law development so that legal norms are built in accordance with legal values that develop in society, and do not conflict with constitutional values.

He also revealed that the Constitutional Court decisions received a lot of criticism for its lack of enforcement as the Court does not have an apparatus to force the implementation of the decisions. He believes that all elements of the nation must comply with the Constitutional Court decisions because not doing so means defiance of the Constitution. In addition, the Constitutional Court decisions can fill the existing legal vacuum. (Ilham/NRA)

Translated by: Yuniar Widiastuti