Deputy Chief Justice Aswanto giving a public lecture at the University of Mataram, Wednesday (12/29/2021). Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

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Wednesday, December 29, 2021 | 15:00 WIB

MATARAM, Public Relations—Deputy Chief Justice Aswanto opened and gave a public lecture on “The Constitutional Court and the Challenge of Digital Technology Disruptions” by the Court and the University of Mataram on Wednesday, December 29, 2021. Constitutional Justices Enny Nurbaningsih and Arief Hidayat were also in attendance.

At the hybrid (onsite and online) event, Justice Aswanto said that digital technology disruptions were more concerned the economy, especially in Germany in 2011. The Industrial Revolution 4.0 demanded that everything be digital, no longer manual.

“In its development, disruptions not only concerned business and the economy, but also had implications on the legal world, especially in law enforcement,” he said.

He also stressed anyone who would not keep up with digital technology would be outdated. This also applies not only in law enforcement but also in the life of the nation and the state.

“But we are aware that one of the natures of digital technology is speed, while we’re also aware that the lawmaking process is not as fast,” he said.

Therefore, he believes efforts need to be made to keep up with the speed of developments in digital technology in order to avoid legal vacuum. However, this must be done without disregarding the state philosophy and the Constitution, but in line with existing norms.

Justice Aswanto also said that robotics replaced a lot of workforce in the Industrial Revolution 4.0. It is understandable from a productivity standpoint, but it resulted in the disregard for the citizens’ constitutional rights that are guaranteed by the Constitution. When all industries use robotics, vacancies will decline. Therefore, the Court must guard the citizens’ constitutional rights, one of them being the right to work and decent living.

Amid the Industrial Revolution 4.0., Justice Aswanto said, digital technology disruptions would increase. Therefore, there needs to be capacity building for the Indonesian people in order to improve education and literacy, especially in information and communication technology.

“The Court understands that justice seekers need technological advances, especially in this pandemic. That is why through the Constitutional Court Regulation No. 1 of 2021, in order to anticipate the digital era, the Court also made remote hearings available,” he stressed.

In such hearings, the Court review and rule on cases through videoconferencing facilities or other electronic devices to allow litigants to communicate online. Justice Aswanto stressed that the Court strive to keep up with the rapid technological advances while taking into account the citizens’ constitutional rights.

Aspects of Technological Disruptions

Meanwhile, Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat said there are positive and negative aspects of technological disruptions to anticipate, not only by the Constitutional Court but by the entire nation. He emphasized that Indonesia must act fast to achieve positive disruptions. A nation’s ability to innovate must not only result in one innovation but continuous ones. In order to innovate, “A change of mindset is required,” he said.

Next, Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbaningsih said technological disruptions are inevitable because they are connected to the system.

“We cannot avoid it. Since we wake up, we deal with technology. After getting up, we usually look at our phones because we cannot part from them. With more technological advances, we get a lot of benefits,” she said.

She also said that the direction of national development is an agreement between the legislatures. The development of the law is directed to a solid national law system based on Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution, including the development of legal materials, legal structure including law apparatus, legal facilities and infrastructure, and a legally aware community. These all are for the realization of a fair and democratic nation.

Writer        : Utami Argawati
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 01/05/2022 10:54 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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