Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat delivering a keynote speech at a Tegal Regency Youth meeting organized by the regional executive board of the National Committee of Indonesian Youth (KNPI) on "Judicial Review Mechanism with the Spirit of Pancasila to Realize of Constitutional Law Supremacy," Saturday noon (24/10/2020) virtually. Photo by Humas MK/Bayu.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat delivered a keynote speech at a Tegal Regency Youth meeting organized by the regional executive board of the National Committee of Indonesian Youth (KNPI) on "Judicial Review Mechanism with the Spirit of Pancasila to Realize of Constitutional Law Supremacy" virtually on Saturday noon, October 24, 2020.

He opened his speech by addressing the current era of technology where everything that occurs in the world are covered rapidly, leading to confusion. “[If] we are technologically illiterate, when we received news that we haven’t checked, [this could lead] to chaos in political, legal, economic, and social aspects,” he said. He advised the young generations to exercise caution in the everyday life.

He explained that if the law and democracy weren’t based on Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution, there would be left- or right-wing ideologies. He said that chaos in Indonesia might not come only within the country, but also from abroad. “There is extraordinary intervention of transnational ideologies, which disrupt the Indonesian national life. There are also external factors,” he added.

Justice Arief also said that the 1945 Constitution is comprised of the preamble and the articles. The fourth paragraph of the preamble explicitly states the national objectives. He said that constitutional justices strive to realize the national mission and vision based on Pancasila, but they cannot intervene each other.

He added that Indonesia upholds the nomocracy of one God. The nine constitutional justices also rule on cases based on that principle, so they are responsible for their ruling to God Almighty.

He also said that the formation and implementation of law must be guided by the divine light. However, legal education in Indonesia hasn’t fully realized this, so the law is marketed as a commodity. He concluded his speech by urging all elements of society to contribute in building a legal system that is based on Pancasila.

Writer: Utami Argawati
Editor: Lulu Anjarsari
Translator: Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 10/30/2020 22:12 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.