President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo officially opened the 2nd Judicial Conference for OIC Member Countries (J-OIC) virtually on Thursday (16/09) in Bandung, West Java. Photo: PR/Ifa.

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Wednesday, 16 September 2021 | 14:41 WIB

BANDUNG, PUBLIC RELATIONS OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT – President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo officially opened the The 2nd Conference of the Judicial Conference of Constitutional and Supreme Courts/Councils of the OIC Member States/ Observer States (J-OIC Conference) on Wednesday (16/9/2021). The 7th President of the country stated that according to the conceptual meaning of the relations between a country and religion, Indonesia was not a country that was based on a single religion. Indonesian people was diverse and believed in different religions, yet Indonesia was not a secular country without any regard to religion. Indonesia, alined with Pancasila as the country’s ideology, was a country that was based on the belief of one God (first clause of Pancasila) and responsible to protect each person in believing and practicing their religion.

“In regards to the judicial system, Indonesia also has a Judiciary intended to specifically deal with religious affairs concerning family matters for Muslims and sharia economic dispute,” said the President in the Conference attended by 32 countries as participants both virtually and in person from Bandung, West Java.  

Role and Contribution of OIC Member Countries’ Judiciaries

Meanwhile, Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia, Anwar Usman also gave his remarks during the opening sharing a flashback of the initial idea to establish a forum for the judiciaries of OIC Member Countries which was dated back then in 2007 when the Jimly Asshidiqie who was the former and first Chief Justice attended the 45th Anniversary of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Turkey. The idea was later brought up again and realized in 2018.

“Therefore, in the 2nd Conference of J-OIC, the theme raised is about the contribution of the judiciary of OIC member countries within the context of Constitutionalism and Human Rights. Another important thing to be achieved in this conference is to address the perspectives of some minority of people, who argued that Muslims and their belief, are not in line with the values of democracy and human rights. With various perspectives regarding the practices and concepts exist in different country, this forum will be able to give us a complete and thorough understanding about the concept and practice of consitutionalism and human rights, as well the best practices and application done by the judiciaries in OIC member countries,” stated Usman in the meeting attended directly by delegations of Turkey and Pakistan, as well as Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, Mahfud MD in Bandung and by other participants virtually.

Bringing Forward and Enforcing the Constitution and Constitutionalism

On the same occasion, Vice Governor of West Java, Uu Ruzhanul Ulum shared his hope that the conference would serve as a forum facilitating good cooperation to promote the rule of law, bringing forward and enforcing the constitution and constitutionalism in each country. Additionally, this conference hopefully would be a means of improving the quality of the Court’s decision through knowledge and experience sharing across the world.

“I hope this conference can increase the Court’s role in enforcing the rule of law and protecting human rights as well as strengthening the good cooperation between the judiciaries of OIC member countries,” he said.

On a side note, the 1st J-OIC Conference was conducted in Turkey on 14-15 September 2018 resulting in Istanbul Declaration which agreed on 3 (three) matters as follow: (1) the Conference would be conducted periodically to discuss about constitution and human rights as well as promoting the rule of law and protection of human rights, (2) the creation of a working group to determine the form and next steps of the forum in the future, and (3) Indonesia was entrusted to be the host of the next conference.

Carrying out the trust, Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia hosted the Conference in Bandung, West Java on September 15-17, 2021 using the hybrid method (combining both online and on-site participation) under the main theme “Human Rights and Constitutionalism: The Contribution of Judiciary in Moslem Countries” and subthemes “Leason learned: The Role of Judiciary to Promote Humanity and Democracy” and “The Protection the Social, Economics and Cultural Rights in Pluralistic Society”. The Conference was attended by 32 countries, Turkey and Pakistan attended on-site and 30 others attended virtually.

Writer: Sri Pujianti
Editor: Lulu Anjarsari
Translator: WA

Translation uploaded on Sept 16, 2021 at 11.37 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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