Chief Justice Anwar Usman opening 2021 Work Meeting on “Evaluation and Quality Improvement of Resolution of Judicial Review, Interagency Disputes, and Other Cases,” Thursday (12/9/2021). Photo by Humas MK/Ilham W. M.

---

Thursday, December 9, 2021 | 20:38 WIB

PADANG, Public Relations—The need for the fulfillment of a sense of justice in society is always changing and developing. Under these conditions, the Constitutional Court must be dynamic and follow existing developments, said Chief Justice Anwar Usman at the opening of the Constitutional Justice Work Meeting (Raker) of 2021 on “Evaluation and Quality Improvement of Resolution of Judicial Review, Interagency Disputes, and Other Cases” in Padang, West Sumatera on Thursday, December 9, 2021. The constitutional justices and structural and functional officials of the Registrar’s Office and the Secretariat-General of the Constitutional Court were in attendance.

Justice Anwar said no peoples are stagnant, as they are always moving dynamically in accordance with existing changes and developments. On the other hand, the law often cannot reach these changes and developments due to its static nature.

He added that as a judicial apparatus, the Constitutional Court should be careful and sensitive in perceiving changes and developments in society. The judiciary must continue consider and develop at least three things in providing services to the public.

First, access to justice, which is the most basic. When it is inadequate, issues will mostly be resolved outside of court. If they can be resolved well, based on agreement or local wisdom, new issues will not arise. However, if not, the issues can escalate or become a time bomb that might cause disturbances.

Therefore, the Court continues to develop access to justice. Since 2003, it has cooperated with the higher education, which had significantly helped improve the people’s awareness and understanding of the 1945 Constitution. It has provided the community with remote hearing facilities at law faculties across provinces. This started with videoconferencing facilities at 42 universities throughout Indonesia.

“The [videoconferencing] technology has been replaced with a smartboard placed in 53 mini courtrooms at the law faculties in universities in Indonesia and constitution villages. The technology facilitates justice seekers to file petitions and litigate in the Constitutional Court,” Justice Anwar said.

The second thing is communication and consultation. Justice Anwar believes for those who are not familiar with the judiciary, any information is valuable. That is why judicial body apparatuses must provide transparent information on any service that justice seekers deserve.

He stressed that this transparency would maintain the institution’s dignity and keep it away from corruptive and manipulative practices. He said this communication and consultation must be evaluated and monitored in tiers. He reminded that any mistake in communication and consultation with justice seeker could have significant impacts and even affect the institution’s reputation.

The last thing is mechanism for case handling, case administration, and court services. Justice Anwar said this is related to the Court’s core business as a judicial institution. He said these three things must be communicated transparently and accurately based on the procedural law and existing provisions. He emphasized that any information cannot be communicated non-uniformly. “Because non-uniform information would confuse justice seekers,” he said.

Meanwhile, Secretary-General M. Guntur Hamzah reported that 132 people attended the event. The work meeting will discuss the evaluation of the Court’s performance throughout 2021 and several other crucial things.

Writer        : Ilham M. Wiryadi
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 12/15/2021 11:27 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.

---