Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra delivered his introduction during book launch and review of the Constitutional Court at the Prof. Dr. Baharuddin Lopa, S. H. Hall, Law Faculty of Hasanuddin University, Makassar, Friday (25/10). Photo by Humas MK/Ilham.

MAKASSAR, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—"The bureaucracy are usually very busy and don\'t have time to write. When busy people still write, it is certainly extraordinary, like the late Baharuddin Lopa," Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra said in his introduction at a book review "The Constitution and Constitutional Court" on Friday (25/10/2019) at the Prof. Dr. Baharuddin Lopa, S. H. Hall, Law Faculty of Hasanuddin University, Makassar. He said that he is familiar with Baharuddin Lopa from his written works.

According to Justice Saldi, writing is a fundamental requirement in institutions such as the Constitutional Court, because the output of the Constitutional Court is the decisions, which are to be responded to by other pieces of writing. He said that to write, one must definitely read. However, reading is no longer considered a tradition among law school students, "Or there is indeed something wrong in the teaching process. We read too much on theory but not the Constitutional Court\'s decisions, which could become new laws," said the Andalas University Law Professor.

Justice Saldi added, the books launched by former constitutional justices, constitutional justices, and officials within the Registrar\'s Office and the Secretariat General of the Constitutional Court are actually inside information of the people who have worked or been working in the Constitutional Court on issues or cases that have been decided. The subjects in the 25 books, according to him, could be debated outside the Constitutional Court to encourage discussions or analyses.

Justice Saldi explained that constitutional justices also need input from the community. He pointed out that the Marbury v. Madison case by the United States Supreme Court, which has prompted over 30,000 pieces of writing. According to him, the Constitutional Court\'s decision in the case of an empty column in Makassar City Election should be able be written in an undergraduate or graduate dissertation.

The book review discussed International Space Law by Constitutional Justice I Dewa Gede Palguna, Agricultural Business Law by Secretary General M. Guntur Hamzah, Ethics of Constitutional Justices by Wiryanto, Right to Refute of Constitutional Justices by Syamsudin Noer, Regional Election Disputes by Hani Adhani, and Adherents of Indigenous Faiths by Winda Wijayanti.

A constitution debate competition and a moot court competition also took place. Trunojoyo University won first place and was MVP of the debate competition, which saw 13 teams. The moot court competition was won by Halu Oleo University, who beat out the other two competitors. (Ilham/NRA)

Translated by: Yuniar Widiastuti