Chief Justice Anwar Usman delivering a keynote speech virtually at a national seminar at the 2020 Diponegoro Law Fair organized by the Law Faculty of Diponegoro University, Sunday (25/10/2020) from the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—In the Pancasila legal system, the law must be justice-oriented. It cannot be interpreted as absolute but with moral and conscience. Such is the essence of the enforcement of the law in the Pancasila legal state, said Chief Constitutional Justice Anwar Usman virtually at a national seminar at the 2020 Diponegoro Law Fair organized by the Law Faculty of Diponegoro University, Sunday, October 25, 2020.

Delivering a speech on “The Existence of Pancasila as the Ideology of the State of Indonesia," Justice Anwar firmly said that Pancasila is the ideals of the Indonesian law because it contains the state’s idealized legal objectives. Pancasila is the nation’s utmost principle that guides national law. “Therefore, all legal products are aimed at realizing existing ideas in Pancasila. Pancasila is the source of all laws and the starting point and goal of the Indonesian law,” he said.

In the world, there are rechtsstaat dan the rule of law as two concepts of a legal state. Both are often used interchangeably but have different background and legal basis, though they share the acknowledgment to human rights through independent, impartial judiciary.

He explained that the rechtsstaat concept is implemented by the Continental Europe, which is also identified with the civil law. The rule of law concept is common in Anglo-Saxon commonwealth countries, in which judges are given the independence to create law for justice.

The legal state concept that Indonesia adopts is stipulated in the 1945 Constitution. Its implementation and development are kept up to date, while still promoting legal certainty with a sense of justice. “Indonesia has a distinct legal system that accommodates the concepts of rechtsstaat dan the rule of law. It also applies customary and religious laws,” he explained.

Justice Anwar expressed his appreciation for the innovations made by the Law Faculty of Diponegoro University amid the COVID-19 pandemic. He hoped the national event will impart to the participants the concept of Pancasila as the state ideology and legal system.

Writer: Sri Pujianti
Editor: Nur R.
Translator: Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 10/20/2020 22:10 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.