The Constitutional Court holding a coordination meeting for court hearing via video conference, Thursday (23/4). Photo by Humas MK/Gani.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—The Constitutional Court (MK) remains operational and strives to offer services to justice seekers amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The Court organized a coordination meeting for a court hearing on Thursday (23/4/2020), which was attended by Chief Constitutional Justice Anwar Usman, Deputy Chief Constitutional Justice Aswanto, Secretary General M. Guntur Hamzah, Chief Registrar Muhidin, and several officials within the Registrar’s Office and Secretariat General of the Constitutional Court.

Justice Aswanto requested that all of the Court’s video conferencing facilities stationed in 43 universities throughout Indonesia could be prepared in accordance with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) health protocol. The hearing will be extraordinary as it will be held in the midst of a pandemic. Such a pandemic also happened in ancient times, in the eras of the prophets and apostles. "Therefore, whatever is happening now is a test for us," Anwar said.

Secretary General M. Guntur Hamzah stated that the upcoming hearing to be held on April 28 is to be prepared following health protocols. He insisted that all staff members of the Court observe zero tolerance, especially in using video conference for the hearing.

He revealed that the Court utilizes Cloudx by PT Telkom for remote hearing. “[We will] use Cloudx by PT Telkom, combined with our VPN,” he said. After monitoring the application for the past view days, he said that it runs well although it needs some fixing.

Offline hearing in the courtroom will also comply with health protocols, which the Court’s security personnel will exercise on everyone in attendance. “[Everyone] will have to wear a mask, gloves, and undergo health check before entering the building,” Guntur asserted. He added that it also applies to the constitutional justices. He requested that all court officers ensure that all parties that will participate online are relevant to the cases. Those who are irrelevant to the cases but wish to monitor the hearing can access the livestream on the Court’s website and YouTube channel. He also requested that the courtroom and the justices’ gowns be sterilized. (Ilham/NRA)

Translated by: Yuniar Widiastuti