Justice Saldi Isra officially opened "The 4th Indonesian Constitutional Court International Symposium (also known as 2021 ICCIS)" alongside Justice Enny Nurbaningsih as the key-note speaker. Wednesday, 15/9. Photo: PR/Bayu
Wednesday, September 15, 2021 | 10.26 WIB
JAKARTA, PUBLIC RELATIONS OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT – Justice Saldi Isra officially opened “The 4th Indonesian Constitutional Court International Symposium (also known as 2021 ICCIS)” on Wednesday (15/9/2021) virtually from the Constitutional Court building, Jakarta. This international event rose the subject of “Constitutional Court, Religion, and Constitutional Rights Protection” with 28 speakers from Australia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Palestine, Singapore, Turkey, and Vietnam presenting their papers and was widely attended by participants through Zoom application.
Justice Isra stated that religion might be considered as a sensitive matter in the context of a country. However, religion was fundamental in the life of the nation and country in Indonesia as it was a part of the initial talks during the preparation of independence in 1945. For example, he explained that in Article 29 Paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution remained unchanged despite the fact that the Constitution itself had been ammended 4 (four) times. In addition, Constitutional Court had ruled a decision on the Blasphemy Law 10 (ten) years ago which declared that Indonesia was neither a country based on a single religion nor a secular country without any regards to religion. Indonesia was a country that protected the religions of the people as mentioned in the Article 29 Paragraph (2) and several other articles of the 1945 Constitution to guarantee the constitutional right of the people to practice their religions.
“In other words, constitutionally in Indonesia there had been rules and regulations on the rights and freedom of religion. But the challenge nowadays is how these rights and freedom could be practiced and protected through the available law mechanism and instrument,” he said.
He further explained that a Judiciary was formed specifically to deal with the matters regarding the protecion of the people’s rights and freedom of religion. However, each country had certain concept and system that would be the basis of setting the boundaries on how far these rights and freedom are protected.
“Therefore, through this International Symposium, there is a great opportunity to discuss the best practice from different countries, including Indonesia in regards to how Judiciary should place the religion as a means of protecting the people’s constitutional rights,” he explained.
Freedom of Religion Guarantee in Indonesia
Justice Enny Nurbaningsih as the key-note speaker would deliver a presentation on “The Role of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia in the Protection of Freedom of Religion” in the symposium. She state dthat the freedom of religion was protected and guaranteed by the Constitution. In the preamble of the Constitution, Pancasila was written as the country ideology with the first clause being “Belief in the One and Only Almighty God”. This clause would then be basis of religiousity acceptance in Indonesia which further elaborated in various rules and regulations especially in the law making process and political activities.
Since the independence of Indonesia, the Constitution had protected the freedom of religion in the country which continued during the New Order era in 1998 until the Constitution was ammended 4 (four) times during 1999-2002. The ammended Constitution expressed strong commitment to protect the rights and freedom of religion through the specific chapter of Human Rights.
Additionally, freedom of religion as constitutional right was regulated normatively in Article 28E Paragraph (1) and (2) mentioning about the acceptance of the rights and freedom of religion for everyone, Article 28I Paragraph (1), and Article 29 Paragraph (2) emphasizing on the role of the country (in this case the government) to guarantee the rights of the people to practice their religions.
“The constitutional rulings had significantly affected the development of the constitutional democracy in Indonesia up to this day. However, the constitutional rulings were seen as insufficient to protect the basic rights of the people. Therefore, Indonesia enforced several laws in regards to the protection of the freedom of religion,” she stated.
Decision on Freedom of Religion
Justice Nurbaningsih shared that the Constitutional Court since its establishment in 2003 had chosen an active stance providing the protection of rights and freedom of religion, such as the judicial review case filed to the Court in 2017 about the Law Number 24 Year 2013 concerning Population Administration Law in which the Court widely opened the path for the people with customary beliefs to be officially acknowledged and accepted by the government. Basically, the Court thought that Indonesia was a country that enabled the reciprocality between the country and religion and that it was possible for the country to rule and regulate the religious activity, whereas it was also possible for the religions to be accepted and take a part in affecting the country’s regulation.
“Constitutional Court should increase its participation in guaranteeing the freedom of religion especially in protecting the freedom of religion. Because, an independent judiciary such as the Constitutional Court is essential to ensure that constitutionalism is properly run,” she said.
Finally, she hoped that the international symposium would act as a forum that enables the participants to have a better understanding on the issues related to the acceptance and enforcement of the freedom of religion for the development of constitutional democracy as well as protection of constitutional rights not only in Indonesia but also the world.
On a side note, the international symposium would be held on 15-16 September 2021 using the hybrid method (virtual and on-site) in Bandung, West Java. Previously, the Court had hosted similar programs: 2017 ICCIS in Solo, 2018 ICCIS in Yogyakarta, and 2019 ICCIS in Bali. Due to the pandemic, the program was halted on 2020. ICCIS itself was a global academic forum held annually to discuss on the matters, ideas, and challenges of the constitutional law, human rights, and democracy. This year it focused on the religious issues in the context of constitutional rights. The Center of Case Research of the Constitutional Court opened the chance for academics to send out their articles and selected articles would publish in the Court’s journal called Constitutional Review.
Writer : Sri Pujianti
Editor: Lulu Anjarsari P
Translator: WA
Uploaded on Sept 15, 2021 at 15:26 PM
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.
Wednesday, September 15, 2021 | 10:26 WIB 298