Secretary-General M. Guntur Hamzah giving a lecture to the Faculty of Sharia and Law of UIN Alauddin of Makassar, Wednesday (3/2/2022). Photo by Humas MK/Hamdi.

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Wednesday, March 2, 2022 | 19:01 WIB

JAKARTA, Public Relations—Secretary-General M. Guntur Hamzah delivered a public lecture on “The Principles of Constitutional Policies on Natural Resource Management” organized by the Faculty of Sharia and Law of the Alauddin State Islamic University (UIN) of Makassar on Wednesday, March 2, 2022. At the lecture, which took place both online and onsite with strict adherence to health protocols, Guntur introduce to the students Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution.

He said the Constitutional Court (MK) is the final interpreter of the 1945 Constitution and has reviewed many laws that are deemed unconstitutional, such as the Electricity Law, the Water Resource Law, the Oil and Gas Law, the Forestry Law, the Mineral and Coal Mining (Minerba) Law, and the Law on the Management of Coastal Areas and Isles. In Decision No. 64/PUU-XVIII/2020 on the judicial review of Law No. 3 of 2020 (Minerba Law), the Court ruled the phrases “given guarantee” and “guaranteed” in Article 169 of the Minerba Law unconstitutional.

The Court, Guntur said, granted part of the petition because the guarantee would have stripped state control over natural resources and the opportunity for domestic business entities to participate in promoting the economy following Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution.

“In other words, the Court set limits for the optimum prosperity of the people. therefore, it made a change and interpreted [the law] by adding the word “can.” In doing so, it has performed its duty to guard the Constitution,” said the constitutional law professor of Hasanuddin University, Makassar.

The Lives of Many People

Indonesia and its people must achieve prosperity with its natural resources. Therefore, the management of natural resources that impact the lives of many people must be returned to the state. As such, in interpreting Article 33, the Court must classify whether important branches of production for the state impact the lives of many people or not.

The Court leaves it to the government and the people representative institutions to determine what and when a production branch is important for the state and/or impact the lives of many. This means that any production branch that is initially important for the state and/or impact the lives of many may cease to be so.

“Therefore, the meaning of ‘controlled by the state’ can be defined as the government utilizing control over those resources for the greatest prosperity of the people in terms of regulation, management, policy, management, and supervision of important production branches and/or those that control the lives of many,” Guntur said.

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

Translation uploaded on 3/7/2022 08:23 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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