Chief Justice Anwar Usman speaking at the anniversary of the Law Faculty of Tarumanegara University virtually, Tuesday (9/28/2021). Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

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Tuesday, September 28, 2021 | 16:13 WIB

JAKARTA, Public Relations—The Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court (MK) Anwar Usman spoke at the 62nd Anniversary of Tarumanegara University on “The Law in Indonesia Post-Covid-19” virtually on Tuesday, September 28, 2021 organized by the university’s Law Faculty. MPR (People’s Consultative Assembly) Speaker Bambang Soesatyo, Judicial Commission Chairman Mukti Fajar Nur Dewata, Indramayu Vice Regent Nina Agustina Da’i Bachtiar, Tarumanegara University Rector Agustinus Purna Irawan, and Tarumanegara University’s Law Faculty Dean Amad Sudiro were in attendance.

In his presentation, Anwar said the amendment of the 1945 Constitution, which occurred in four stages, was the beginning of the enforcement of the law in Indonesia. Without the Constitution, the state would not achieve order because its key content concerns the citizens’ constitutional rights.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, many of the citizens’ constitutional rights must be protected, including their security and safety. “The people’s security and safety are the goals of the establishment of the state. However, the pandemic was not a simple matter as it has broad and pervasive impacts on various aspects of life. Without it, the implementation of health insurance by the state was already a complicated issue,” he said alongside moderator Wilma Silalahi, a staff member of the Court.

He then illustrated what occurred in the U.S. Despite it being a superpower country, healthcare during President Barack Obama was controversial as it concerned the state budget. It was predicted that the state’s guarantee of all citizens’ universal health insurance would deplete the state budget.

Other countries face this problem. He added that there is a saying “there is no rich person when he falls ill because no matter how rich he is, he will fall into poverty due to the high cost of treatment that need to be borne.”

The pandemic, Justice Anwar said, has had extraordinary impacts on various aspects of life—politics, economy, social, law, science, technology, and so on. Therefore, the state must fulfill the citizens’ constitutional rights in order to reach a just and prosperous nation and state.

“As such, state administrators must abide by the Constitution because when the Constitution is set aside or not implemented, the nation will be destroyed. It has been proven since ancient times. Therefore, let’s abide by the Constitution,” he concluded.

Writer        : Sri Pujianti
Editor        : Nur R.
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 10/4/2021 04:02 WIB

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

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