Chief Justice Anwar Usman receiving a decree letter (SK) of honorary doctorate from Prof. Gunarto of the Sultan Agung Islamic University (Unissula) of Semarang, Friday (3/11/2022). Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

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Friday, March 11, 2022 | 19:16 WIB

JAKARTA, Public Relations—The Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court (MK) Anwar Usman received a decree letter (SK) of honorary doctorate from the Sultan Agung Islamic University (Unissula) of Semarang on Friday, March 11, 2022 at Unissula, Semarang, Central Java. The letter was conferred by Professor Gunarto of Unissula to Chief Justice Anwar Usman.

At the event, Justice Anwar said that the honorary degree was God’s fate and the results of his life journey.

“As many are aware of, I started my career as a teacher at an elementary school in Kalibaru, Jakarta almost 40 years ago and I was an alum of the Religious Teacher Training (PGA), of which institution no longer exists today. Then, I continued my studies at the Law Faculty of the Islamic University of Jakarta 38 years ago. My life journey, starting from the Religious Teacher Training and the Islamic University of Jakarta, [was destined by] Allah SWT to end with my inauguration as a professor [honoris causa] at the Sultan Agung Islamic University today,” he said alongside the Head of the Public Relations and Protocol Bureau Heru Setiawan, Deputy Registrar III Wiryanto, and other Constitutional Court staff members.

He revealed that offers of honorary degrees had been given to him by public and private universities both orally and in writing since 4–5 years ago. However, he hadn’t responded until this time. “However, I didn’t reject them either. Finally, recently I was moved to receive the offers of honorary doctorate,” he said.

Justice Anwar said he accepted the offer because he believed his activities as a constitutional justice was closely related to the development of knowledge, not only in the law but in other fields as well. In addition, as a constitutional justice, he also often speaks at academic events at campuses—delivering speeches, presentations at seminars, academic orations, keynote speeches, and so on.

Besides that, he added, constitutional justices also participate in international events such as conferences, symposiums, meetings, and bilateral agreements between institutions for the sake of the development of the institution and in order to implement the Constitution by “developing the life of the nation.”

Expert Team’s Assessment

Unissula Rector Gunarto said that, based on the assessment by the expert team, Chief Justice Anwar Usman received the rector’s decree letter and the honorary doctorate certificate would be valid until he turned 71. “May Allah SWT bless us, especially Prof. Dr. Anwar Usman, S.H., M. H. and the [faculty members] of FH Unissula because today we have another professor,” he said. Gunarto also revealed that the chief justice was the seventh professor at the university.

Meanwhile, the assessment team’s secretary Anis Mashdurohatun explained that the team had recorded the chief justice’s extraordinary track record and deemed him deserving of the honorary degree.

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

Translation uploaded on 3/14/2022 08:32 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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