Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbaningsih delivering a lecture for the Pancasila and Civic Education study program at the University of Indonesian Teachers Association of Yogyakarta, Friday (3/25/2022). Photo by Humas MK/M. Nur.

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Saturday, March 26, 2022 | 12:03 WIB

JAKARTA, Public Relations—Constitutional Justices Enny Nurbaningsih and Suhartoyo delivered a lecture on “The Importance of the Constitution for Citizens” at a collaborative event by the Constitutional Court (MK) and the Pancasila and Civic Education study program at the University of Indonesian Teachers Association of Yogyakarta (PPKn FKIP UPY) on Friday, March 25, 2022.

In order to understand the importance of the Constitution for citizens, Justice Enny said, we must understand the factual situation of Indonesia. God Almighty has blessed Indonesia with extraordinary gift.

“Indeed, our nation is a nation that has been given extraordinary gift by the Almighty. There might not be other nations whose condition is quite like Indonesia. The population of Indonesia is current over 270 million. We will also get extraordinary demographic bonus in the near future, that is, millennials, younger generation who will be pillars of power in the future,” she said.

National Unifier

Justice Enny also highlighted 17,504 islands and isles, 1,300 ethnicities, and 700 local languages of the archipelago in addition to the religions and faiths recognized in the nation.

“We have been reinforcing the various gifts of God as part of Indonesia’s wealth. They are the most important part of developing our nation for realizing the common goals enshrined in the Preamble of the 1945 Constitution to develop the future, despite extraordinary challenges, especially in the face of [Industry] 4.0 and 5.0,” she said.

Therefore, she added, Indonesia needs unifiers of the nation’s plurality, such as Pancasila, Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (unity in diversity), and the basic foundation of the nation, state, and society—1945 Constitution, which has been amended in four stages (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002).

“This are the most crucial elements that unifies our nation despite the diversity of the God-given wealth,” she said.

She also explained the definition of the constitution and its importance for the citizens. She compared the constitution to an organization’s statute/bylaws.

“The constitution of an organization is its statute/bylaws. It is a formal constitutional document that contains provisions on how to manage the lives of our nation, state, and society in one state organization. This is its importance,” she stressed.

Various principles and legal rules that govern the state are collected as the constitution to become a manifesto to be realized, Justice Enny said. However, sometimes the written constitution and the reality can be different, and this is a matter of implementation.

“In the constitution it is stated how to divide [state] power, what constitutes the power, the operation of organs in power, and so on. This is the most important part to understand in the constitution,” she explained.

She said a constitution in a broad sense is a legal document that covers broad aspects, such as politics, economy, culture, and some even point to the green constitution. Meanwhile, in a narrow sense, it is a legal document for, for example, regulating legal norms that limit power, and power is limited by various arrangements in it, etc.

Functions of the Constitution

Next, Constitutional Justice Suhartoyo talked about the function of the Constitution, which is to limit the power of state institutions, state administrators. This includes when state administrators produce laws. “Because the law is a political means to achieve state goals,” he said.

In addition, he said, the Constitution functions as a protection and guarantee of the constitutional rights of all citizens. “The state is so strong to provide protection and guarantee for the constitutional rights of citizens granted by the Constitution, so the Constitutional Court was formed,” he added.

Then Justice Suhartoyo explained that the history of the establishment of the Constitutional Court in Indonesia began during the independence. Mohammad Yamin was the first to propose that the Supreme Court be given the authority to review laws. However, this proposal was rejected by Soepomo because the Indonesian Constitution did not adhere to Montesquieu’s trias politica, so it would not have been possible for ​​judicial review to be adopted into the 1945 Constitution. In addition, not many legal scholars were familiar with judicial review. Long story short, during the amendment of the 1945 Constitution, the idea of ​​forming the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia (MKRI) re-emerged. The Court was then established on August 13, 2003.

Not all countries have a separate Constitutional Court to review the constitutionality of laws, Justice Suhartoyo said. Indonesia’s Constitutional Court is the 78th in the world. Other countries Supreme Court, instead, review laws.

“Before Indonesia had a constitutional court that separately review whether laws are unconstitutional or not, the Supreme Court do so,” he stressed. He also explained that at the time, the Supreme Court also dealt with criminal and civil cases in addition to reviewing laws and regulations thereunder.

Therefore, Justice Suhartoyo said, a constitutional court needed to be established by in Indonesia to take over the judicial review authority of the Supreme Court. The Constitutional Court has the authority to examine laws against the Constitution, decide on disputes over the authority of state institutions, decide on the dissolution of political parties, and decide on disputes over election results. It is also obligated to decide on the House of Representatives’ (DPR) opinion if the president and/or vice president are suspected of violating the law. Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court also has an additional authority to handle disputes over regional election results. 

Writer        : Nano Tresna Arfana
Editor        : Nur R.
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 3/29/2022 09:52 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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