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Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra delivering a public lecture virtually for the Law Faculty of Lambung Mangkurat University, Saturday (21/11/2020) from Jakarta. Photo by Humas MK/Bayu.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra gave a public lecture virtually for the Law Faculty of Lambung Mangkurat University on Saturday, November 21, 2020. The discussion was centered around one of his books “State institutions: Concept, History, Authority, and Dynamics of the Constitution.”

He said that the people’s sovereignty is given through the elections to the legislative branch, i.e. the DPR (House of Representatives) and the Regional Representatives Council (DPD), and the executive (the president). However, the Constitution interprets it more widely, so that the people’s sovereignty isn’t monopolized by one or two institutions; otherwise, one could assume more power than the other. He said this to answer a question from one of the participants. The constitutional law professor of Andalas University added that state institutions mentioned in the Constitution—i.e. the House, the president, the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court, etc.—implement the people’s sovereignty in different portions.

“What the Constitution elaborates boils down to what is stated in the Preamble to the 1945 Constitution to achieve state goals. If all state institutions adhere to this principle, even if there are differences, those differences would be in how they understand, think about, and work towards realizing the state goals as set out in the Preamble to the 1945 Constitution,” Justice Saldi explained.

A participant asked about the conflict between Law No. 23 of 2015 on the Regional Government and the MD3 Law (Law on the MPR, DPR, DPRD, and DPD). Justice Saldi said that both laws are the core business of the House Commission II and the Government. “Because [both laws] are [under purview of] one commission, to harmonize and synchronize them should be easier. However, in practice, it is difficult. Conflicting norms can be settled through judicial review in the Constitutional Court, for example,” he explained.

Two Groups of State institutions

Justice Saldi also talked about an opinion of former Chief Constitutional Justice Prof. Jimly Asshiddiqie on two groups agencies: central and regional. “Some of the central state institutions were formed by the mandate of the Constitution, some by law, some by regulations under the law. This applies in the regions as well,” he explained.

He added that some experts divide state institutions based on their functions, for example, the presidency, the people’s representative agencies, the judiciary. “Before the amendment to the 1945 Constitution, we were stuck in defining state institutions. There used to be highest and high state institutions. The MPR [People’s Consultative Assembly] used to be the highest state institution that holds the people’s sovereignty and it was everything. It was one of the things corrected through the amendment to the 1945 Constitution,” he stressed.

There have been many theories on state institutions. Some call them independent institutions. In the U.S., theories of the “new,” and even “newest,” separation of powers emerged.

Compared to similar books by constitutional law experts and reviewers, this book by Justice Saldi talked about something most neglect to discuss: the history of state institutions that reflects their authorities and dynamics, especially after the reform to the constitution in 1999-2002.

In this book, Justice Saldi also tried to explain the authorities of several state institutions in relation to some Constitutional Court decisions, which have influenced state institutions. The Court has revoked the House’s authority to select supreme justice candidates from among those nominated by the Judicial Commission. It has also provided an interpretation of the relations between the House and the DPD (Regional Representatives Council) in lawmaking. It once ruled the recall of the BPK (Audit Board) members unconstitutional. The Constitutional Court decisions presents another dynamic of interagency relations in the mechanism of checks and balances.

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

Translation uploaded on 11/25/2020 17:37 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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