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Saturday, April 17, 2021 | 13:04 WIB

Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra delivering keynote speech and opening book review of Pengujian Undang-Undang (Judicial Review of Laws) by the Constitutional Court’s junior registrar Achmad Edi Subiyanto virtually, Saturday (14/4/2021). Photo by Humas MK/Ilham.

Jakarta, Public Relations—Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra delivered a keynote speech and opening the book review of Pengujian Undang-Undang (Judicial Review of Laws) by the Constitutional Court’s junior registrar Achmad Edi Subiyanto virtually on Saturday, April 17, 2021. The event was organized by Esa Unggul University, constitutional content creator Advokat Konstitusi, and publisher Rajagrafindo Persada.

Justice Saldi revealed in his speech that the most reviewed and studied topic in constitutional law was the push-and-pull between the legislative and the judicial branches in discussing bills. “Why are the two branches most studied? It’s because one of them creates legislation while the other implements it,” he said.

He explained that in Indonesia, the legislation is produced by the legislatures and is executed by the executive branch. He added that proper checks and balances mechanism will lead to balance. However, in case it is not realized, the judiciary is needed to create balance between the legislative and executive branches.

“It is highly likely and commonplace that the holders of the executive and legislative powers come from the same political party, leading to the drafting of laws that negates the interests of the wider public. When that happens, another organ must be involved in the checks and balances—the holder of the judicial power, which was fundamentally designed to oversee the work of those two organs,” said the justice, who was born in Solok, West Sumatera.

Justice Saldi added that in the US, it is very common. “When balance is struck between the legislative and the judiciary, it doesn’t negate the control exerted by the judiciary,” he said.

He mentioned the famed US case Marbury v. Madison, which led to judicial review. It started with the Supreme Court’s idea of correcting cases within the executive realm. In that context, the judicial review in the US differs from that in Indonesia.

“The judicial review in the US emerged because the justices were actively interpreting the constitution, while in Indonesia it emerged due to a mandate from the 1945 Constitution,” Justice Saldi said.

Constitutional Complaint  

Moving on to the book, Justice Saldi explained that its author is a lecturer who has practiced litigating in the Constitutional Court. Thus, he expected that the book would offer more comprehensive information. He also said that the book talks about the practice of constitutional complaint, where petitioners draft their constitutional complaints in a way that simulates judicial review petitions.

Justice Saldi said that the mechanism of constitutional complaint as applies in, for example, Germany differs from judicial review. In addition, it falls outside the Constitutional Court’s jurisdiction although, he revealed, it has been proposed to be included in the Court’s authorities. If it happens, there will be two methods available.

First, by changing the Court’s authorities within the 1945 Constitution or by adding it in a law, as applies to the Court’s authority to decide on regional election disputes. “The second method is through the Court’s interpretation. This book seriously ponders this,” Justice Saldi said.

Writer: Ilham M. Wiryadi
Editor: Lulu Anjarsari P.
Translator: Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 4/19/2021 14:44 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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