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Tuesday, March 9, 2021 | 08:32 WIB

Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra speaking at the virtual book review of Constitutional Law and Politics by Idul Rishan, Monday afternoon (8/3/2021). Photo by Humas MK/Teguh.

JAKARTA, Public Relations—Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra spoke at a virtual book review of Constitutional Law and Politics by Idul Rishan on Monday afternoon, March 8, 2021. The event was organized by the Indonesian Center for Law and Policy Studies of the Law Faculty of the Islamic University of Indonesia (PSHK FH UII) for its 14th anniversary.

He said that FH UII is one of the most consistent law faculties in publishing books, which others should follow. “Anyone writing a book deserves special appreciation. Whether we agree [with the contents] or not, that’s another story. We shouldn’t think that when we write a book, everyone has to agree [with its contents]. The more challenges are faced by an academic work, the more critics will produce work for the development of our law,” he said.

Reference Books

Justice Saldi was impressed by the book Constitutional Law and Politics for its rich reference and quotes, as well as its long list of nearly 500 footnotes and 355 references. On every page of the 270-page book, he said, there are two expert quotes.

“It’s not easy to write something that brings together the various schools of thought on the topic that we write. By reading [Mr.] Idul’s book, we at least have read the quotes from the books referenced in this book,” he said.

Justice Saldi said that if one writes one or two pages each day, they will end up writing one or two books a year. He also said that writing books is not a matter of imagination, but of putting imagination into writing.

“It surprised me when everybody was talking about COVID-19 and suddenly Prof. Ni’matul Huda published a book on COVID-19 in relation to regional government,” he revealed.

Justice Saldi also said that he once was “offended” by US constitutional law expert Prof. Richard Albert, who came to the Constitutional Court of Indonesia to discuss his book, because the professor didn’t talk about Indonesia’s constitutional amendments. “He wrote the histories of constitutional amendments in various countries, but I didn’t find Indonesia in the book, when [Indonesia] has extraordinary experience in amending the Constitution. It means that Indonesia’s constitutional developments weren’t fully communicated to larger communities in the word,” he explained.

Justice Saldi’s Comments

Justice Saldi made an observation of the book. He said there was still room for exploration in the book, for example, in relation to judicial powers. He believes that the author uses two terms for the filling of constitutional justice’s vacancy that, from the perspective of constitutional law, are completely different. Some constitutional justices went through an election, while others went through a selection.

“These terms actually prompt us [to think] whether their use is appropriate or not. Is selection or election the more appropriate method? This is my observation. [Mr.] Idul should perhaps elaborate theoretically on how the vacancy of a justice, in this case a constitutional justice, is filled,” he said.

Justice Saldi also commented on the government’s power in the book. He said that the Indonesian government’s power came a little late than other countries that similarly adhere to the presidential system.

“In the transcripts of the amendment to the 1945 Constitution, with regard to the relationship between the executive and the legislative, very few experts detailed the presidential, parliamentary, and dual executive systems,” he said to the students.

Reviews on systems of government found a place in the amendment to the Constitution. Justice Saldi believes Idul’s book has introduced them to the readers.

He said that in the beginning of the amendment to the 1945 Constitution, there was an opinion that the DPR (House of Representatives) held more legislative power than the president. This was refuted by Justice Saldi in his dissertation. He believes that textually, the amended 1945 Constitution gives more power to the president than the House with regard to legislation.

“There are five steps to the legislative function: introduction, discussion, review, ratification, and promulgation. Only the president has those functions, while the House only has three: introduction, discussion, ratification,” he explained.

Justice Saldi’s Message

Before concluding his presentation, Justice Saldi sent a message to the students to cast their doubt in choosing constitutional law as their major in university. He said that the major is more dynamic than other fields of law because it is closely related to politics.

“It doesn’t make sense than those choosing the constitutional law major would run out of materials for thesis or dissertation, because constitutional law is currently the most rapidly developing field of law, surpassing other fields of law. Constitutional law is very closely related to the dynamics of politics,” he stressed. He gave an example of the highly-reviewed US’ Marbury v. Madison ruling, which has been analyzed in around 30,000 academic works.

Writer: Nano Tresna Arfana
Editor: Nur R.

Translator: Yuniar Widiastuti
Editor: NL

Translation uploaded on 3/9/2021 14:40 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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