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Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat speaking at a webinar by the Law Faculty of Udayana University, Sunday (13/9) from the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat spoke at a webinar on "The Momentum of Student Revolution with a Sense of Empathy in Mutual Cooperation" hosted by the Law Faculty of Udayana University as part of the Student Day Iustitia 2020 on Sunday morning, September 13, 2020. He talked about “Students’ Active Role of as Next-Generation Agents in the Pancasila Frame for National Unity.”

"We have agreed on and inherited from the founding fathers an extraordinary ideology and state foundation, Pancasila, which is applied in all aspects of national and state life. Those of us who are engaged in law, including freshmen who are starting to study law, have to learn law within the context of the state ideology and foundation Pancasila," he said at the start of his presentation.

He added that Indonesia’s law-based state is different from other rules of law, as every country applies law based on its ideology and constitution. Some countries adhere to the liberal ideology but Indonesia is based on a philosophical and ideological foundation called Pancasila.

"Why is Pancasila most suitable in Indonesia? I see the Indonesian people are very diverse. Pancasila doesn’t differentiate on the basis of race, majority or minority groups, language, and so on. All Indonesian citizens have the same position before the law and government. The Indonesian people have the same opportunity to develop, to be able to advance themselves in the country without exception," he said.

Justice Arief has observed that amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Indonesia’s social, political, and religious cohesion has decreased and weakened due to external and internal factors. Infiltration and intervention in economy, law, and other aspects often occurs, because Indonesia has a wealth of natural resources.

“The wars that are happening today are not physical, but wars using extraordinary media, including social media, which can shape public opinion. Social cohesion in Indonesia can be weakened due to transnational ideologies,” he explained.

He said today there are a lot of accosting hoaxes and hate speech in social media from within and outside the country. He hopes students won’t be influenced by such things. "Students are expected to be able to disseminate, through social media, news that has been validated, contains the truth, which actualizes, ground Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution. Virtual public spaces can be filled by students. In this millennial era, students can participate through social media in disseminating information on the good Indonesia, on how Indonesia is going forward, which improves national unity and integrity based on Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution," he said.

Mutual Cooperation during Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic can be a moment of unity that ignites the spirit of Indonesia’s mutual cooperation, without which social cohesion will weaken. “Regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, we band together against COVID-19. With mutual cooperation and unity in diversity within the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia, I believe we can escape this highly critical situation,” Justice Arief said.

He observed that many legal experts, observers, and practitioners don’t have the same perception regarding the law that should be developed in Indonesia. Many channel, describe, and carry ideas of law in a liberal manner, dominated by the common law and civil law systems while Indonesia’s law-based state and democracy must be in accordance with Pancasila.

He also said that the Constitutional Court’s main authority to carry out judicial review serve the goal to maintain consistency, coherence, and correspondence to laws, in line with the 1945 Constitution and Pancasila. He explained that laws are the summation of the conflicting political interests in the country’s representative bodies and their relation to the 1945 Constitution and Pancasila will be judged by the Constitutional Court in judicial review.

Writer: Nano Tresna Arfana
Editor: Nur R.
Translator: Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 9/15/2020 11:07 WIB

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian version, the Indonesian version will prevail.

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