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Constitutional Justice Wahiduddin Adams speaking at an online public lecture organized by the Sharia Faculty of IAIN Kudus on Saturday (19/9) from the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Gani.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—Constitutional Justice Wahiduddin Adams spoke at an online public lecture on "The Constitutional Court’s Role as the Final Guardian of the Constitution" organized by the Sharia Faculty of IAIN (State Islamic Institute) Kudus on Friday, September 18, 2020.

“Congratulations, freshmen of the Sharia Faculty of IAIN Kudus, on entering the academic world that is full of challenges. Hopefully you’ll become academic and religious scholars and participate in the society, nation, and state,” he said before the faculty members and freshmen of the Sharia Faculty of IAIN Kudus.

He first talked about his education and career. After graduating from senior high school, he enrolled in the Sharia Faculty of IAIN Kudus Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta in 1973. After earning a bachelor’s degree in Islamic Judiciary, he went on to have strategic positions at the National Law Development Agency (BPHN), the Directorate General of Law and Legislation of the Justice Department as a legislative drafting staff (1990-1995), at the Directorate General of Law and Legislation of the Law and Human Rights Department as the Director of Legislation Alignment (2004), the Directorate General of Law and Legislation of the Law and Human Rights Department as the Director of Regional Regulation Planning Facilitation (Echelon IIA) (2004-2010), and the Law and Human Rights Ministry as the Director-General of Law and Legislation (2010-2014).

He has been teaching legislation classes at the Sharia and Law Faculty of the State Islamic University of Jakarta since 2002 as well as at the Law Faculty of the Muhammadiyah University of Jakarta since 2006. Then, in 2014 he was appointed a constitutional justice.

Beginning his lecture, Justice Wahiduddin first explained the simple definition of the constitution, that is the basic law of the state. “It is the 1945 Constitution. In the Middle East countries, the constitution is called dustur. In Egypt, the Constitutional Court is Al-Mahkamah Al-Dusturiyah al-‘Ulya. Its authorities aren’t much different from the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia,” said the justice who earned his master’s and doctoral degree in Islamic law from IAIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta.

Justice Wahiduddin added that the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia has been amended in 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002. In the meetings for the second amendment, the members of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) discussed the fact that much of our legislation is a colonial heritage, and some is still in effect.

“The Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code are a colonial heritage. Therefore, the MPR decree at the session of the second amendment to the 1945 Constitution mentioned the need for a law regarding the formation of legislation,” he said.

Article 22A of the 1945 Constitution mentions the procedure to form legislation, and then Law No. 10 of 2004 on the Formation of Legislation came into force. It stipulates that Pancasila is the source of all legal sources. The 1945 Constitution takes precedence over any laws. Under the laws are government regulations in lieu of laws, government regulations, presidential regulations, provincial regulations, and regency/city regulations.

He hoped that no law would go against the Constitution and be challenged in the Constitutional Court. He added that the formation of laws should be based on academic texts, rationales, sociological reasons, etc. therefore, he said that the Constitutional Court also participates in guarding the Constitution. In order to guard the Constitution, the legislature must be qualified and have integrity. They shouldn’t make laws or regulations that cannot be implemented. These laws and regulations must be implemented by law enforcers such as the police force, prosecutors, etc. The people should also abide by them.

Justice Wahiduddin added that the most basic amendment to the 1945 Constitution is the people’s sovereignty. Before the amendment, sovereignty was vested in the people and implemented by the MPR. However, after the amendment, Sovereignty is vested in the people and implemented pursuant to the Constitution. The amendment to the 1945 Constitution also led to the establishment of the Constitutional Court in 2003.

“One of the Constitutional Court’s authorities as a judicial actor is to review laws against the Constitution. Around two thousand laws have been challenged in the Constitutional Court. Some [of the petitions] are granted, others denied or dismissed,” he explained.

Other authorities of the Court are deciding on authority disputes among state institutions whose authorities are granted by the 1945 Constitution, deciding on the dissolution of political parties, and deciding on disputes over general elections. The Court is also obligated to decide on the House’s opinion on an alleged violation of law committed by the president and/or vice president, or impeachment.

The Court also has a transitional or temporary authority to decide on disputes over regional elections. It is said to be temporary because it is not mentioned in the 1945 Constitution. “Disputes over regional elections should be resolved by a special judicial body. However, before such a body is established, [the authority] is under the Constitutional Court,” he stressed.

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

Translation uploaded on 9/25/2020 15:41 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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