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Friday, December 3, 2021 | 21:46 WIB

SOLO, Public Relations—Deputy Chief Justice Aswanto and Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra gave public lectures on “The Role and Challenges of the Constitutional Court in Realizing Democratic Law and Politics” on Friday morning, December 3, 2021. The event was organized as collaboration with Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS).

Justice Aswanto said the Constitutional Court (MK) is the child of the Reform era, founded thanks to the amendment to the 1945 Constitution. It was established based on several considerations, one being the fact that laws are often not in line with the Constitution but that the resolution of such issues was left to lawmakers.

“That is why there needed be an institution with the authority to review whether the laws formed were in sync or not with the norms enshrined in the Constitution. One of its bases was if the president or vice president was deemed to have committed a violation, resulting in impeachment by the [House of Representatives (DPR)],” he said.

In addition, the Court’s role is guarding constitutional rights, which are the citizens’ rights guaranteed by the Constitution. The Court also serves as the guardian of human rights. Any citizens whose constitutional rights are harmed by the enactment of norms in laws can petition those norms to the Constitutional Court.

Justice Aswanto then explained the Court’s judicial review authority. The Constitution, he said, contains basic norms that must be elaborated in legislation. When norms in the legislation disregard the rights guaranteed by the Constitution, this can be petitioned in the Constitutional Court.

“When such a thing happens, the people whose constitutional rights are violated can petition for material judicial review in the Constitutional Court. This is the Court’s first duty and authority—reviewing laws against the Constitution,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra said the Court’s authority allows it to repeal laws, be it certain articles, paragraphs, elucidation, or chapters.

“However, we [constitutional justices] in the Constitutional Court cannot repeal [those laws] on a whim,” he said virtually. He explained that the Court starts doing so only when a petition is filed. Without one, it cannot do anything. However, not all petitioners’ argument of the constitutionality of laws are granted by the Court. 

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

Translation uploaded on 12/14/2021 15:39 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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