Constitutional Justice Suhartoyo giving a keynote speech at Webinar Vol. 2 Ed. 5 of the Center for Law and Development Studies, State University of Surabaya, Saturday (9/25/2021). Photo by Humas MK/Ilham W.M.

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Saturday, September 25, 2021 | 22:05 WIB

JAKARTA, Public Relations—The Constitutional Court (MK) as a judicial body participates in the administration of the nation and state by serving as the guardian of the Constitution, the guardian of the state ideology, the sole interpreter of the Constitution, the protector of the citizen’s constitutional rights, and the protector of human rights, said Constitutional Justice Suhartoyo in his keynote speech on “Relation Between Law and Ethics: Implementation in National and State Life” at the National Webinar Vol. 2 by the Center for Law and Development Studies of the State University of Surabaya on Saturday, September 25, 2021.

Legal and Ethical Norms

Justice Suhartoyo said that the Constitutional Court as part of the law enforcement tries to look at the law not only as norms in legislation, but as something with sense and soul, so that the law must be implemented with values that are deemed appropriate by the conscience and that are represented in the law.

“The rule of ethics in law enforcement must also be interpreted as an attitude on which law enforcers treat the law properly according to values in society, nation, and state,” he said virtually.

He also explained that the implementation of the legal state and rule of ethics in the Constitutional Court can be seen in two aspects. First, the formal aspects that can be seen from the procedural law. Legal state in the implementation of the Court’s authorities were derived from the Constitutional Court Law into technical provisions such as the Constitutional Court Regulations and the Regulations of the Chief Constitutional Justice. Those provisions must be followed by everyone that litigates in the Court in cases on judicial review, interagency disputes, general election disputes, or regional election disputes.

Meanwhile, the rule of ethics is realized in the nine constitutional justices’ decision-making process, where they must be impartial and independent. Public and accountable court hearings are also a reflection of it.

Second, the material aspect that is reflected in the Court’s decisions. One of the implementations of the legal state and rule of ethics is the Court’s legal considerations in its decisions, which fully gives protection to the citizens’ constitutional rights.

Justice Suhartoyo also said that the administration of the nation and state should also balance and accompany compliance to the legal state (supremacy of law) and the rule of ethics. The awareness of legal norms and ethics in state administration will be seen through attitude, conduct, actions, and speech, which should end in model, reliable, and noble state administrators. Legal norms and ethics must go hand in hand to produce justice for real justice that the people can feel. The law is actually sacred and unsullied, where any violation of it is often caused by the attitudes and actions of the implementers and law enforcers who do not follow the rule of ethics.

Justice Suhartoyo ended his speech by stressing that the relation between the law and ethics applies universally, not only in the enforcement of law but also in the administration of the nation and state.

Writer        : Utami Argawati
Editor        : Nur R.
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 9/27/2021 21:06 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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