Chief Justice Anwar Usman speaking at the 2021 national webinar on law organized by the Student Executive Body of the Law Faculty of Galuh University, Ciamis on Saturday (19/6/2021). Photo by Humas MK/Hendy.
Saturday, June 19, 2021 | 11:07 WIB
JAKARTA, Public Relations—Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court (MK) Anwar Usman delivered a keynote speech at the 2021 national webinar on law on “Legal Professions: Profit or Upholding Justice.” The event was organized by the Student Executive Body (BEM) of the Law Faculty of Galuh University, Ciamis on Saturday, June 19, 2021.
“Legal graduates currently play an important role in society and the nation because since the amendment to the 1945 Constitution, the state’s legal principles are stated in the amendment and explicitly stated in Article 1 paragraph (3): Indonesia is a legal state. The principles of the legal state (rule of law) before the amendment to the 1945 Constitution were only stated in the elucidation, so that the concept of the legal state used to be considered a mere tagline, devoid of a strong and earnest desire.
Therefore, he said, the legal professions are now important and even prestigious. They are closely related to legal high education because it is the breeding ground for legal graduates to start their professions. Justice Anwar stressed that the legal high education institutions have the responsibility to generate legal professional with integrity.
The chief justice has repeatedly said in seminars and discussions that the role and contribution of legal high education is significant in the enforcement of law in the country. Everyone participating in the webinar—rector, deans, members of the faculty, and the participants—are products of legal high education.
Three Issues of the Legal System
Justice Anwar said the legal education itself not only correlates with practical matters of the enforcement of the law, but also with three key elements of the legal system—legal substance, legal structure, and legal culture. Substantive enforcement of the law can be realized only if those three elements are fulfilled. In the context of legal substance, legal higher education can drive academic texts that become normative guidelines for the law enforcement to enforce the law.
At the same time, he added, legal higher education serves as breeding grounds for capable law enforcement officials that stand in the frontline of legal enforcement in society. It also develops legal culture in that it produces law-abiding citizens. So, in truth, the true responsibility of substantive legal enforcement and the fulfillment of the elements of the legal system lie with legal higher education.
Justice Anwar also said many people expect the burden of legal enforcement to fall on the shoulders of law enforcement officials—state officials such as the police, prosecutors, judges, and advocates. They also believe that judges bear the highest burden. However, he reminded everyone that law enforcement officials are products of legal higher education that have instilled in the law enforcement values.
“I believe the responsibility lies with higher education because the values instilled and taught in education are eternal while the positions of law enforcement officials are temporary. Therefore, the role of legal higher education in legal enforcement is key,” he said.
Justice Anwar believes that upholding the law and justice cannot be overlooked. History taught us that the need to treat people fairly through law is an absolute necessity. The history of legal and justice enforcement is as old as human civilization.
Role of Judges
Justice does not recognize class, group, strata, or anything else, because before the law everyone is equal. However, if the law or law enforcement officials are discriminatory, justice will be difficult to achieve.
“History has given us many lessons, such as that the rise and fall of a country is dependent on the enforcement of fair laws. If law and justice cannot be enforced, it will lead to anarchism, and anarchism will cause division and public disorder, and can lead to the disintegration of the nation. Therefore, concern for law enforcement and justice is one of the keys to the life of the nation and state,” he explained.
The chief justice also explained that the birth of the Constitutional Court in 2003 resulted from the amendment to the 1945 Constitution from 1999 to 2002. It was driven by the Reform by the people and students as an evaluation of law enforcement, democracy, and constitutionalism in that era. The people were aware that without law enforcement and democracy, tyranny would emerge and restrict their rights. He spoke of the adage “Democracy without law births anarchy and law without democracy creates tyranny.”
“Therefore, on this occasion I’d like to send a message to all of the webinar participants, especially for prospective law graduates who will take up legal professions in the future. [Your] legal professions are not merely professions that generate profit, but also ones that have social responsibility to uphold law and justice. The responsibility to uphold law and justice is our responsibility along with all citizens, thus the constitutional ideals of a just and prosperous society can be realized and doesn’t become a utopia,” he stressed.
Link to the YouTube video: https://youtu.be/-3eX-uK1Hb4
Writer : Nano Tresna Arfana
Editor : Lulu Anjarsari P.
Translator : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)
Translation uploaded on 6/21/2021 13:53 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.
Saturday, June 19, 2021 | 11:07 WIB 336