Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat giving a presentation in the constitution awareness program for Pancasila and Civic Education teachers of elementary schools in Bogor virtually, Wednesday (9/1/2021). Photo by Humas MK/Teguh.

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Wednesday, September 1, 2021 | 17:31 WIB

JAKARTA, Public Relations—The second day of the constitution awareness program for Pancasila and Civic Education (PPKn) teachers of elementary schools (SD) in Bogor that the Court organized continued virtually on Wednesday, September 1, 2021 with three presentations by Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat, Hasanuddin University professor Judhariksawan, and constitutional law expert Ni’matul Huda.

Justice Arief talked about “The Constitution and Constitutionalism.” He said most states have a constitution. “The constitution is more extensive than the basic law as it can be written and unwritten. The basic law is a written constitution,” he explained.

He said that Indonesia has the 1945 Constitution as the written constitution and the unwritten constitution in the form of conventions that have been practiced again and again. Such a convention is, for example, the annual presidential speech on August 16 before the people, in which the president talks about the programs that the legislative, executive, and judiciary have carried out the past year. “It is a constitutional convention,” he said.

Justice Arief said that the constitution can be interpreted as a basic law to guide the state governance. “People often mention the UK, which implement an unwritten constitution. It’s not that it is completely unwritten or not codified, but it is dispersed in several texts. Meanwhile, Indonesia uses a written constitution codified in one text, the 1945 Constitution,” he revealed.

He also talked about the social contract theory by John Locke, J.J. Rousseau, and Thomas Hobbes. Each of them had different ideas, though. Hobbes believed in the absolute monarchy; Rousseau believed in democracy; while Locke believed in constitutionalism. Locke was the first person to propose the idea of human rights.

Justice Arief then talked about the goals of the constitution: maintaining order and peace, maintaining power, and taking care of matters relating to public interest. He also defined the constitution values as the result of the implementation of the norms in a constitution in practice.

“Constitution values include normative value—when the constitution is understood, recognized, accepted by society—as well as nominal value—when the norms of the Constitution are not used as a reference in decision-making. In addition, there is the semantic value, when the norms of the constitution are only appreciated on paper and used as motto or slogans as a means of justification,” he explained.

Also read: Chief Justice: Importance of Teaching Pancasila Values Early

Constitutional Rights in the 1945 Constitution

Meanwhile, Hasanuddin University professor Judhariksawan gave a presentation on “Guarantee of Citizens’ Constitutional Rights in the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia.” Beginning his presentation, he explained the definition of constitutional rights.

“There is no one standard definition of constitutional rights. I’d like to point this out so we have an understanding on it,” he said to the participants.

Judhariksawan said constitutional rights are a set of rights for citizens that are agreed upon, regulated, and guaranteed to be fulfilled based on the state’s constitution. The word ‘set’ is commonly used to refer to a sum of several regulated conditions.

“This set of rights are given to citizens. In Indonesia, for example, there is a regulation on how to obtain citizenship. This set of rights is regulated and guaranteed in the 1945 Constitution,” he said. He also explained that constitutional rights are not only contained in the Constitution, but also in laws and regulations.

He also said that the constitutional rights in the 1945 Constitution include the state’s responsibilities, the citizens’ rights, and human rights. The state is responsible for protecting the nation, developing the people’s welfare, developing the life of the nation, participating in the world order, and realizing social justice for all Indonesian people as referred to in paragraph 4 of the Preamble to the 1945 Constitution.

Meanwhile, the citizens’ rights, Judhariksawan said, are laid out in Article 27 of the 1945 Constitution, in that all citizens shall have equal position before the law and government and uphold the law and government without exception. They are also entitled to decent occupation and livelihood for humanity.

Human rights, he defined, are a set of rights that are inherent in humanity as God’s creation and are His gift that must be respected, upheld, and protected by the state, law, government, and everyone for the sake of honor and protection of human dignity as referred to in Law No. 39 of 1999 on Human Rights.

State Governance

Next, constitutional law expert Ni’matul Huda talked about “State Administration System According to the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia.” He explained the ideals of Indonesian law, which are rooted in Pancasila, which the founders established as the philosophical foundation in organizing the basic framework and structure of the state organization as formulated in the 1945 Constitution.

“Pancasila is a way of life for the Indonesian people that expresses the views of the Indonesian people about the relationship between humans and God, humans and fellow human beings, as well as humans and the universe, which is based on a belief about the place of the individual in society and the universe. The legal ideals of Pancasila must reflect the goals of the state and a set of basic values listed in both the Preamble and the body of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia,” Ni'matul said.

Ni'matul further explained that the president’s legislative power was reduced after the amendment to the 1945 Constitution in 1999-2002. The term of office of the president is also limited and they could be impeached. The president cannot suspend/dissolve the House (DPR), and their prerogative rights are reduced.

Ni'matul also explained that the authority of the House was strengthened after the amendment to the 1945 Constitution: their legislative power increased and they have the rights of interpellation, inquiry, and expressing opinions. In addition, House members have the right to make inquiries, submit proposals and opinions, as well as the right to immunity and propose impeachment of the president and/or vice president.

The event will be taking place on Tuesday-Friday, August 31 to September 3, 2021. Constitutional justices, academics, deputy registrars, and others spoke about the law, the Constitution, and the Constitutional Court before 200 participants.

Writer        : Nano Tresna Arfana
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 9/13/2021 08:42 WIB

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian versions, the Indonesian version will prevail.

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