Chief Constitutional Justice Anwar Usman giving a speech during the Christmas and New Year Celebration of the Constitutional Court, Friday (17/1) at the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—The Christmas and New Year Celebration of the Constitutional Court (MK) took place on Friday noon (17/1/2020) at the Delegation Room of the Constitutional Court. Christian staff members, Secretary General M. Guntur Hamzah, Chief Constitutional Justice Anwar Usman, as well as Constitutional Justices Arief Hidayat, Manahan M. P. Sitompul, and Daniel Yusmic Pancastaki Foekh were in attendance.

"Hopefully the 2019 Christmas celebration will not only bring peace to Christians, but to the entire Indonesian people. Likewise, hopefully the New Year 2020 will be far better than the previous year," said Chief Constitutional Justice Anwar Usman Anwar Usman. 

He said that all religions teach love, kindness, and peace, not violence and hatred. The Gospel records a golden rule, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” In the Quran, Surah Hujurat, Allah says, "O mankind, indeed We have created you… and made you peoples and tribes...." Both verses, Justice Anwar said, promotes tolerance.

"Religious issues and sentiments within communities [are often used by] certain people or groups to achieve certain goals. As religious people, surely we cannot justify such behavior. It is important for us to remind one another how important it is to have unity and harmony among religious communities," he explained. 

Chief Justice Anwar also talked about showing compassion and empathy to and helping those affected by the floods on New Year. (Nano Tresna Arfana/LA)

Translated by: Yuniar Widiastuti