Deputy Chief Justice Aswanto speaking at a national webinar for the 36th anniversary of the Postgraduate Department of Sam Ratulangi University of Manado, Friday (23/7/2021). Photo by Humas MK/Bayu.
Friday, July 23, 2021 | 20:59 WIB
JAKARTA, Public Relations—Any discourse on ethics and morality is always related to human rights that reflects the time because morality is the standard of norms and ethics is the standard of behavior, said Deputy Chief Justice Aswanto when opening his presentation on “Ethics, Morality, and Human Rights” at a national webinar organized by Sam Ratulangi University of Manado on Friday, July 23, 2021.
He urged the participants to discuss one by one the definition of morality, ethics, basic rights, and human rights more comprehensively. He defines ethics as the judgement of right and wrong based on morality, and morality as the parameter for right and wrong. Both, he added, is the standard to review norms in terms of human rights.
Justice Aswanto then said that from the perspectives of ethics and morality, human rights can be categorized into human rights and basic rights. Human rights are those that come from the Almighty God, that attach to any person since birth. Meanwhile, basic rights are those that one obtains by being a citizen of a certain state. These rights must be provided by the state. Therefore, they are included in the constitution, which is the guideline to determine the citizens’ constitutional rights.
He explained that basic rights are domestic and can be found in Article 28A through 28J in the amended 1945 Constitution. They were also mentioned in the 1949 Constitution of the Republic of the United States of Indonesia and the 1945 Constitution before pre-amendment. “In order to ensure the fulfillment of these rights, the Government must make the arrangements,” he stressed.
Justice Aswanto also discussed more about human rights in Indonesia, which are categorized into four: civil, political, socio-economic, and cultural rights. The needs of the people in relation to these rights must be accommodated by the state. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, it is shown through the allocation of the state budget (APBN) to mitigate the pandemic and cater for the people’s needs.
“Whether the fulfillment of these rights is right or wrong, appropriate or not, is a question of ethics. If the answer is no or not yet, the ethical value of those human rights has not been implemented in Indonesia,” he said virtually from his residence in Jakarta.
Human Rights Violations
Justice Aswanto highlighted society’s misunderstanding of human rights violations. He believes certain norms can be used to assess human rights violations: violations through actions, negligence, and legislation.
He talks about riots to exemplify violations through actions. He believes that certain norms and ethics can be based on to mitigate riots in stages. Against riots that concerns verbal aggression, dialogue is used. When riots turn physical, the measure to take is different, but it must be appropriate. If tools are used the aggression and the danger level increases, shooting can be chosen as the response, under certain categories.
Human rights violations can occur through negligence. If, for example, the Government doesn’t take any action against health issues or a pandemic, it has committed such a violation. In today’s reality, the Indonesian Government has made efforts to fulfill the people’s needs. “The Government has focused on budgets to mitigate [the pandemic]. This means that [they] didn’t let the issue go. The state has tried to accommodate its’ citizens’ needs,” Justice Aswanto said.
Legislative violence against human rights occurs when the legislature creates substandard legislation whose moral basis is inappropriate. Justice Aswanto believes the Government and the legislature have a role in the fact whether such a violation occurs.
“Therefore, one of the Constitutional Court’s roles is to review laws, which the legislature formulated in order to govern the state and the citizens, against the 1945 Constitution,” he said. Aside from Justice Aswanto, Setya Nugraha from the North Sulawesi Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) also delivered a presentation on “The Socialization of Integrity Zone.” Meanwhile, Maxi R. Rondonuwu, the Health Ministry’s Acting Director-General for Disease Control and Prevention, delivered a presentation on “The COVID-19 Pandemic as an Opportunity to Reform the National Healthcare System.”
https://youtu.be/DDoqlBxBRfA
Writer : Sri Pujianti
Editor : Lulu Anjarsari P.
Translator : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)
Translation uploaded on 7/26/2021 11:57 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.
Friday, July 23, 2021 | 20:59 WIB 350