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Wedneday, 16 September 2021 | 13:17 WIB

BANDUNG, PUBLIC RELATIONS OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT – On the final day of the 4th Indonesian Constitutional Court International Symposium (also known as 2021 ICCIS) with the theme of “Constitutional Court, Religion and Constitutional Rights Protection”, participants got to hear 2 (two) speakers from Indonesia and Australia presenting their papers. Kerstin Stenier shared the case study on the difference of rights protection in Anglo Law System in Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei wrapped in the paper titled “Religion, Rights and Constitutions in Southeast Asia” as well as the link between religion and a country accommodated by the Constitution. In her research, she used Hirschi’s theory applying 3 (three) prototypes in the conceptualization of constitutional secularism. The session was moderated by Constitutional Court’s Researcher, Ananthia Ayu Devitasari.

“That the country’s validation on religions as the national heritage and an attribute of  collective identity as well as strong religious belief which was also referred as Islamic constitutionalism, in Singapore it can run well due to the interactive system and constitutional secularism, in Malaysia (it also run well) due to the autonomy system and country’s support, meanwhile in Brunei (it also run well) due to the autonomy system and Islamic constitutionalism itself,” she said on the 2nd day of the international symposium held both virtually and on-site from Bandung, West Java on Thursday (16/9/2021).

Not Adopting Islam in Constitution

Andy Omara from the Law Faculty of Gadjah Mada University delivered his speech covering his paper titled “Why Not an Islamic State? Constitutional Debate Concerning State-Religion Relation in a Muslim Majority Country” in which he laid out the reasons why Indonesian Constitution neither mentioned nor declared Indonesia as an Islamic State. Despite the fact that Islam was the most followed religion by the people, the Constitution did not specify Islam as an official religion of the state.

He explained further that some creators of the Constitution suggested the idea to adopt Islam in the Constitution, however the idea was hard to bring it into realization due to the fact that Indonesia was not merely consisted of Muslims. Therefore, putting Islam in the Constitution would raise a question by the non-Muslims as it had been done before for the Djakarta Charter in which it was rejected. In other words, the mentioning of religions in the Constitution should remain abstract and general without specifically referring to Islam.

“Constitution, principally, was an important document to determine the link between a country and religion. Often times the Constitution regulated on the link between both religious authority and the country. Even though the revelation of religious identity implied the constitutional acknowledgement (or acceptance) for religions, this matter should still be carefully examined as it may potentially affect the rights of the other minority religions,” he stated.

Forming the Religious Constitution

On the same occasion, Ahmad Rofii from IAIN Syekh Nurjati Cirebon delivered his speech on his paper titled “Is the Indonesian Constitution Religious? The Religious Values Clause and Constitutional Interpretation” in which he examined the religious concept in the Indonesian Constitution which was the forming of a religious constitution. He highlighted the adoption of several religious values in the Human Rights Chapter of the Constitution as well as critically analysing the Decision of the Constitutional Court in the case of mix-religion marriage as the examples of how the theory was validated and articulated in the marital maters.

“The use of word “Religious Values” indicated inclusivity and generality. The common meaning of the words was referring to the religious values which were quite general and universal. Hence, it could be accepted generally by any religious belief. Other than that, religious value is not a standalone value. And based on the supremacy of the constitution, the referral of those religious values need to be adjusted to the values and principles of the constitution,” he said.

Writer: Sri Pujianti
Editor: Tiara Agustina
Translator: WA

Translation uploaded on Sept 16, 2021 at 15:45 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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