Chief Justice Anwar Usman delivering a sermon in Dena Village, Mada Pangga Subdistrict, Bima Regency, West Nusa Tenggara, Saturday (12/18/2021). Photo by Humas MK/Hamdi.

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BIMA, Public Relations—The Constitutional Court (MK) accountable for its cases to Allah SWT, that is why its ruling hearing always starts with “for justice based on belief in God Almighty.”

“This means that the [verdict is rendered], the justice is directly responsible to Allah SWT,” said Chief Justice Anwar Usman when delivering a constitution sermon in Dena Village, Mada Pangga Subdistrict, Bima Regency, West Nusa Tenggara on Saturday, December 18, 2021, which the subdistrict head and village chiefs, community and religious figures, and community members attended.

However, Justice Anwar said, not one judgment by any judge can satisfy everyone. There will always be some pushback too. For example, when the constitutional justices rendered their verdict on the 2019 presidential election dispute case, some people were satisfied but there were others who were not and blamed it on the constitutional justices, especially the chief justice.

“Any judge who renders an accurate decision will receive spiritual merit. Even when they render an erroneous judgment, they still do, but only if it is not intentional, instead has been pondered on,” he stressed.

He then mentioned an anecdote of caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib’s show of virtue. The caliph lost his armor and saw it being dried in front of a Jew’s house. Ali went to claim it but the Jew insisted it was theirs. They went to court. Ali only brought one of his children and a servant.

“The judge ruled to reject Ali’s lawsuit. However, Ali was not upset about the verdict. After the trial, he came to the Jew and said that because he couldn’t prove his argument and his witnesses’ testimonies at the trial, he let go of his armor,” Justice Anwar said.

Abu Hanifa’s Story

Justice Anwar also talked about the imam Abu Hanifa, who was offered by the caliph of Iraq the post of a judge. He rejected the offer, which angered the caliph, who then imprisoned him numerous times for rejecting the offer time and again. He eventually died after allegedly being poisoned.

“Judges bear heavy responsibility, that Abu Hanifa rejected the offer to become a judge several times and was prepared to die for it, as [being a judge] meant being directly accountable to Allah SWT,” Justice Anwar said.

He added that constitutional justices must be neutral, independent, and impartial. They must remain free from intervention. The nine constitutional justices are nominated by the three branches of state power: the Government, the House of Representatives (DPR), and the Supreme Court. Each nominates three candidates.

“However, when taking an oath at the State Palace to become constitutional justices, we were no longer [related to] the branch of power [that nominated us]. We are statesmen. Statesmanship is one of the requirements for constitutional justices, as per the 1945 Constitution. The duty to guard the Constitution lies on the shoulders of the nine constitutional justices,” he added.

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

Translation uploaded on 12/27/2021 14:04 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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