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I Dewa Gede Palguna handing over books symbolically to former Chief Constitutional Justice of 2003-2008 Jimly Assiddiqie and current Constitutional Justices in a book launch and book review, Wednesday (8/1) at the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Gani.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—The Constitutional Court (MK) organized a launch and review of books by former Constitutional Justice I Dewa Gede Palguna at the hall of the Constitutional Court on Wednesday (8/1/2020). Constitutional Court Saldi Isra and the founder of the Center of Indonesian Legal and Policies Studies (PSHK) Bivitri Susanti discussed the books entitled "Dissenting Opinions: Different Opinions of Constitutional Justice Palguna" and "The Constitutional Court and Political Dynamics of Law in Indonesia."

Opening the event officially, Deputy Chief Constitutional Justice Aswanto said that a book review is one of the initial efforts for exploring a scientific work, which helps one build their knowledge. He also revealed that I Dewa Gede Palguna was a very productive constitutional justice.

"Palguna was a very productive justice. Of course, institutionally, he was highly expected to always provide firm [thoughts]," Justice Aswanto said before the other constitutional justices and guests, such as former Chief Constitutional Justice of 2003-2008 Jimly Asshiddiqie, former Constitutional Justice of 2008-2013 Maria Farida Indrati, former Constitutional Justice of 2003-2009 Maruarar Siahaan, and Andalas University Rector Yuliandri.

Justice Aswanto hoped that this book review would encourage students, academics, and the public to be interested in discussing the topics presented in the book written by former constitutional justice who will return to teaching in a university in Bali. Justice Aswanto believed that the book on dissenting opinions discusses many judicial review decisions, which are actually still quite difficult to understand by the wider community. However, this book provides another perspective in understanding the Constitutional Court\'s decisions. 

Challenges for the Constitutional Court

In his speech, Jimly reminded the constitutional justices and legal practitioners to fully understand the meaning of democracy. According to him, as long as democracy is not institutionalized, it will be difficult to overcome dynastic politics and the economization of power. These two things are very real feudal cultural threats that will be faced by judicial institutions such as the Constitutional Court. Jimly said that state officials in Indonesia could tend to see power in terms of economic efficiency, when in fact there is no economic country.

Therefore, Jimly hopes that the constitutional justices will not only see the Constitution as a text but understand the values that are growing and developing, both written and unstated. "Because we are guarding the constitutional civilization. And this is where the importance of the Constitutional Court lies," he explained.

Palguna’s Principle

In the book review facilitated by Constitutional Court substitute registrar Mardian Wibowo, Palguna shared the story behind the publication of his books. He revealed the ideas for the books came from researcher Pan Mohamad Faiz and other Constitutional Court researchers. Mid-December 2019, Palguna collected his past papers as a justice when handling various cases in the Constitutional Court.

The book "Dissenting Opinions", Palguna said, was written under two conditions: it should not be written just to be popular; he must not fear backlash due to different opinions. "Underneath it all, there is one principle that I always follow: giving honest opinions. When having a dissenting opinion in deciding a case, do not worry," he said.

Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra as one of the speakers revealed the book related to dissenting opinions revealed that Palguna was more productive in his second term as a constitutional justice. Bivitri said that Palguna was a teacher who, even outside of classroom, inspired her in legal study. So, for Bivitri, the two books prove that the Constitutional Court is a constitutional university. (Sri Pujianti/LA)

Translated by: Yuniar Widiastuti

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