Senior researcher Pan Mohamad Faiz speaking at the constitution awareness program for the board and members of the Corps of Indonesian Muslim Students Alumni (KAHMI) virtually, Wednesday (5/18/2022). Photo by Humas MK.
Wednesday, May 18, 2022 | 15:09 WIB
JAKARTA, Public Relations—The constitution awareness program for the board and members of the Corps of Indonesian Muslim Students Alumni (KAHMI), organized by the Constitutional Court (MK) through its Pancasila and Constitution Education Center (Pusdik), commenced on the second day on Wednesday, May 18, 2022. Yudi Latif (former head of the Agency for Pancasila Ideology Education/BPIP), Pan Mohamad Faiz (senior researcher of the Constitutional Court), I Gusti Ayu KRH (state administrative law professor of Sebelas Maret University of Surakarta/UNS) and Amzulian Rifai (Judicial Commission member) delivered presentation at the online program.
In the first session, Yudi Latif delivered a presentation on “The Re-actualization of the Pancasila Values.” he said that the democracy that Indonesia had fought for was constitutional, which had ideological and theological purposes. Both purposes were fought for in order to fulfill and enforce the Constitution.
“So, in implementing the democracy, [Indonesia] has often [adopted] laws or democratic models from abroad, but has not been consistent with [their compliance] to the principles of democracy. Meanwhile, constitutional democracy has an ideological and theological purpose to implement the Constitution,” he said virtually.
He believed that when lawmakers drafted laws, policies, or designed political institutions or election systems they had to comply with the principles of democracy. “So, for example, we can question whether in the presidential system, the history of the Constitution allowed for presidential threshold. It must be in compliance. These things should be able to be questioned,” he stressed.
Yudi also explained the objectives of the state, which is enshrined in the Preamble to the 1945 Constitution—to protect all Indonesian people and the entire land of Indonesia and to develop the welfare of the people, the life of the nation, and participate in the world orderliness based on freedom, eternal peace and social justice—are not the task of merely the state or government.
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Procedural Law for Judicial Review
Meanwhile, senior researcher Pan Mohammad Faiz talked about “The Constitutional Court and the Procedural for Judicial Review of Laws Against the 1945 Constitution.” He explained that the Constitution can be interpreted narrowly and broadly.
“Narrowly, the Constitution can be interpreted as the basic law, while broadly it means the basic values of the state, which can be the same between one country and another. This was then used as the basis for the formation of the Constitutional Court,” he said.
Faiz said that the Constitution must live, so the 1945 Constitution must not only be interpreted textually, but one can also see what lies behind the values in its articles. “Because we have made the Constitution the guidelines in the state, it must also be used as a source for all laws and regulations. The logical consequence is that because we adhere to constitutional supremacy, no decisions or actions should not conflict with the Constitution. So, [they] must be in accordance with the 1945 Constitution,” he explained.
State Administration System
UNS state administrative law professor I Gusti Ayu talked about “The State Administration System Based on the 1945 Constitution.” She said that, aside from the 1945 Constitution, which is a written basic norm, there are also unwritten ones—basic rules that arise and are maintained in the practice of state administration even though they are unwritten.
“To investigate the basic law of a country, it is not enough only to investigate the articles of the constitution, but also its practice and its mystical atmosphere,” she said. She asserted that the 1945 Constitution could not only be understood textually. Therefore, how the text was created must also be studied; the elucidations must be studied and the atmosphere in which it was made discovered.
Ayu also stressed that the Preamble to the 1945 Constitution intends for the unity of the entire nation, a fact that shall not be forgotten. She believed that the 1945 Constitution must oblige the Government and state administrators to maintain noble human character and uphold the noble moral ideals of the people.
She also explained that Pancasila and the Preamble to the Constitution were considered as basic norms and a source of positive law. The basic legal formulations in the articles within the body of the 1945 Constitution are the norms contained in the Preamble to the 1945 Constitution and Pancasila.
This program is taking place online for four days, from Tuesday to Friday, May 17-20, 2022 with materials and best speakers in constitutional law and constitution speaking before 390 participants, all registered within Pusdik’s electronic system (e-Pusdik). The legal experts and practitioners will and have delivered presentations on “The Re-actualization of the Pancasila Values,” “The Constitutional Court and the Procedural for Judicial Review of Laws Against the 1945 Constitution,” “The Constitution and Constitutionalism,” “The State Administration System Based on the 1945 Constitution,” and “The Guarantee of Citizens’ Constitutional Rights Based on the 1945 Constitution.” The participants will also be instructed with how to draft a judicial review petition and to practice the materials.
Writer : Utami Argawati
Editor : Lulu Anjarsari P.
Translator : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)
Translation uploaded on 5/18/2022 15: 53 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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