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Chief Constitutional Justice of 2003-2008 Jimly Asshiddiqie speaking at the socialization of MPR’s four pillars, Wednesday (18/11/2020). Photo by Humas MK/Hendy.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—At the second day of the socialization of the four pillars of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) and a constitutional awareness program for members of the Nahdatul Ulama (NU), Aisyiah, and the Islamic Women’s Union (WSI) on Wednesday, November 18, 2020. The virtual event was organized by the Constitutional Court's Pancasila and Constitution Education Center (Cisarua, Bogor) and the MPR.

Chief Constitutional Justice of 2003-2008 Jimly Asshiddiqie talked about “Constitution and Constitutionalism.” He said the constitutional awareness program is crucial in order to unify the people’s perspective of citizenship and constitutional rights. “Citizens must also understand citizenship because constitutionally they implement the citizenship principles set by the founding fathers,” he said.

He also believes that the people must guard the constitution and pass it down to the future generations. He said that a constitution is a convention that cannot satisfy everyone. “Therefore, citizens who feel that their constitutional rights are harmed have the right to fight for their rights in the Constitutional Court,” he added.

Four Pillars

The People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Deputy Speaker on the Socialization of the Four Pillars Ahmad Basarah explained that the four pillars of the MPR are Pancasila as the foundation, the 1945 Constitution as the constitution, as well as the MPR decrees (TAP MPR). He added that the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) is the final form of the state, while Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (unity in diversity) is the state’s motto. He also said that these four pillars are not equal, as each has a different level, function, and context from the others. In principle, Pancasila as the state ideology and foundation, stands above the other four pillars. It also serves as a guideline for the other pillars.

He also explained that the Constitutional Court in Decision No. 100/PUU-XI/2013 on the judicial review of Law No. 2 of 2011 on political parties affirmed Pancasila’s position as the foundational philosophical theory of the state. The decision maintains and supports the efforts to educate the nation’s character by declaring as constitutional the efforts of political parties and other state institutions to carry out education through instilling Pancasila, the 1945 Constitution, NKRI, and Bhinneka Tunggal Ika. Normatively, Ahmad added, there are legal differences between the socialization of the four pillars of the nation and state by the MPR so far and the Constitutional Court decision.

Ahmad said the four pillars must be socialized by the MPR because the syllabus on Pancasila has been removed from the national curriculum. He said the state was seen to have neglected this, which led to MPR Speaker of 2009-2014 Taufiq Kiemas devising and implementing an agenda of instilling citizenship values through the socialization of these four pillars, in order to fill in that vacuum.

Also read: Constitutional Court Guarantees Citizens’ Constitutional Rights

Amendment to the 1945 Constitution

In the next session, House (DPR) Commission XI member Agun Gunandjar Sudarsa spoke about the amendment to the 1945 Constitution, which was aimed at perfecting the basic rules regarding state order, people’s sovereignty, human rights, power sharing, social welfare, and the democratic state and law-based state. The changes were made in a comprehensive manner, making understanding the Constitution difficult.

He further explained that before the establishment of the Constitutional Court, the constitutional supremacy was in Article 1 paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution where the people’s sovereignty was implemented by the MPR. However, the MPR was not authorized to review laws under the Constitution, leading to those laws often conflicting with the Constitution.

Guarantee of Human Rights

The last speaker, Ombudsman chairman Amzulian Rifai, in his presentation on “The Guarantee of Citizens’ Constitutional Rights in the Spirit of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika” said that human rights in Indonesia are based on the Constitution and several laws. The state has made efforts in guaranteeing the rights of the citizens. He also said that there are global and regional mechanisms of human rights protection.

The socialization of the four pillars of the MPR and constitutional awareness program for members of the Nahdatul Ulama (NU), Aisyiah, and the Islamic Women’s Union (WSI) took place for four days (November 17-19, 2020). The participants followed the program both offline at the Constitutional Court's Pancasila and Constitution Education Center (Cisarua, Bogor) and offline.

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

Translation uploaded on 11/23/2020 20:33 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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