---

Constitutional law expert Andi Irmanputra Sidin speaking at a technical guidance program on the constitution for the Indonesian Institute of Architects (IAI) at the Pancasila and Constitution Education Center. Photo by Humas MK/Hidayat.

BOGOR, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—At a technical guidance program on the constitution for the Indonesian Institute of Architects (IAI) organized by the Constitutional Court’s Pancasila and Constitution Education Center, constitutional law expert Andi Irmanputra Sidin delivered a presentation on “The State Administration System According to the 1945 Constitution.” Irman explained that during the amendment to the 1945 Constitution, direct democracy was chosen after a long period of president-centered power.

During the Reform, Iman, said, the people wanted to know more about their representatives. It is understandable that today there are complaints on the legislation from architects. Parts of Law No. 6 of 2017 on Architects and Law No. 7 of 2017 on Construction Services may no longer be relevant. Therefore, it is imperative that architects today have an understanding of the state administration system.

"In the past, the president held the power of government, but the people then refused and demand a reform. In the past, capitalism [could] dominate the country by controlling its president because the president can issue constitutional regulations. Therefore, we need to be literate about this state system, including architects," Irman said before 71 participants in Grha 3 of the Pancasila Education Center in Bogor.

Irman further explained that after the Reform, the authority to form legislation was returned to the House of Representatives (DPR) in a general election every five years. If the resulting legislation contradicts other regulations and even impacts the life of the nation and state, the Constitutional Court acts to guarantee its legal certainty. "With the amendment [to the Constitution], we [now] give our votes to political parties who seek representatives of the people to sit in parliament. That is the goal, even though in reality it is not perfect because political parties also [have difficulties in] looking for candidates," said Irman.

Collective Consciousness

Second speaker Hayyan ul Haq delivered a presentation on "The Re-actualization of the Implementation of Pancasila Values" and encouraged the participants to understand the basic concepts of legal products. In theory, all legal products are the collective consciousness of the people. Pancasila is a foundation as a result of a collective consciousness that is the nation\'s identity.

"So Pancasila is an institution of us, the people of Indonesia. Thus, Pancasila is the answer to the existence of Indonesian society itself. So, the consequence of this is that every program must not conflict with the values of Pancasila," Hayyan explained.

Rights and Obligations

Hesti Armiwulan delivered a presentation on "Guarantee of Citizens’ Constitutional Rights in the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia." She stated that constitutional rights are laid out in the 1945 Constitution. The 1945 Constitution, she said, only covers 7 basic rights, but it has 26 additional articles relating to citizens’ constitutional rights.

Hesti highlighted the state’s obligation in the 1945 Constitution to protect and fulfill the human rights of its citizens. She also said that those rights cover civil-political rights as well as economic, social, and cultural rights (ESCR). The civil-political rights are negative rights that are fulfilled as long as there is little interference by the state, such as in freedom and justice. Meanwhile, ESCR are political rights because the more the state interferes, the more fulfilled they are. “The state must be involved in the fulfillment of these rights. The absent of state involvement means that the state does not fulfill its obligation,” Hesti said.

The Indonesian Institute of Architects as participants attended the program for four days, Monday-Thursday (2-5/3/2020). They listened to presentations by constitutional justices, constitutional law experts, researchers, and substitute registrars of the Constitutional Court related to constitutional law and governance according to the 1945 Constitution, as well as the filing of judicial review petition. (Sri Pujianti/LA)

Translated by: Yuniar Widiastuti

Translation uploaded on 3/6/2020

---