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Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra speaking for the Constitution School virtually, Saturday (10/7/2021). Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

Saturday, July 10, 2021 | 18:36 WIB

JAKARTA, Public Relations—Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra spoke at a webinar for the Constitution School organized by Advokat Konstitusi in collaboration with publishing company Raja Grafindo Persada and the Constitutional Court (MK) on Saturday, July 10, 2021. Fitrah Bukhari, founder of Advokat Konstitusi also attended the webinar, which had the theme “The Government System of Indonesia.” At the webinar, which opened the Constitution School 2.0, Justice Saldi talked in length about the history of the government system in Indonesia. The theme of the webinar went along with his book Sistem Pemerintahan Indonesia: Pergulatan Ketatanegaraan Menuju Sistem Pemerintahan Presidensial (Indonesia’s Government System: Constitutional Struggles toward the Presidential System).

Alongside moderator Hario Danang from the Law Faculty of Padjajaran University, Justice Saldi highlighted the need to discuss in-depth the debate over Indonesia’s government system. Indonesia’s constitution has undergone changes: the 1945 Constitution immediately after independence, the Constitution of the Republic of the United States of Indonesia, the Provisional Constitution of 1950, back to the 1945 Constitution. All of those constitutions were practiced differently, for example in 1959 vs 1999. The amendments of the constitution were aimed at maintaining the presidential system.

At the closed forum, Justice Saldi started his presentation by quoting K.C. Wheare’s definition of the constitution from Modern Constitutions. According to Wheare, the constitution as a written document and the collection of rules which establish and regulate or govern the government, which defines the whole system of government of a country.

“If [you] read the constitution of any country, you will find the government system that it adopts. However, it should be emphasized that in fact we rarely find direct mention of a presidential/parliamentary system of government in the constitution. Only after some searching will the characteristics in the constitution be found, whether a country adopts a presidential or parliamentary system for its government,” he explained.

Justice Saldi explained that the government system explains the relationship between executive and legislative branches. The government system is related to the relationship between the two branches in a state government. He then illustrated the parliamentary government system in other countries, such as Malaysia, Japan, and Germany, where a general election is held only once to elect members of the legislature.

In this system, he added, the prime minister is not elected. The parliamentary election will determine the strategic composition of the representative positions. It is in contrast, in the presidential system the general election is held twice, either simultaneously or separately, to elect the legislature and the executive. Naturally, this system leads to a battle of sovereignty between these two institutions.

"So, it is very reasonable that tension might arise in this system because there are two institutions that are entrusted with sovereignty by the people to manage the country. The legislative and the executive are of course separate concepts, so there is a political process within the [them], both of which exercise the people’s sovereignty,” Justice Saldi said.

National Characteristics

Justice Saldi then moved on to the history of the 1945 Constitution. The republic didn’t have such a system in its history, as it was occupied by kingdoms. However, the founding fathers didn’t choose the presidential system for no reason, he said.

“The founding fathers really understood the nation’s characteristics as a country. If it had become a kingdom, who would have been made king? Therefore, it was decided that the people be given the opportunity to elect its head of state. When the 1945 Constitution was drafted, the founding fathers were familiar with the government systems. Soepomo elaborated clearly how the United States had transferred to the Philippines its government system. So, the founding fathers’ knowledge was sufficient for building the government system at the time,” he said before some 300 virtual participants.

He then talked about Indonesia’s government system after the amendment to the 1945 Constitution in 1999. He believes that the amendment maintained the presidential system with certain adjustments to fit the characteristics of Indonesia. One of the them was limiting the term of the president and vice president. Another adjustment was the opportunity to impeach the president/vice president not for political reasons, but only if they violate the Constitution.

Writer           : Sri Pujianti
Editor          : Nur R.
Translator     : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 7/12/2021 23:10 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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