Constitutional Justices Manahan M. P. Sitompul and Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh giving public lectures to undergraduate and graduate students of the Law Faculty of UNS, Wednesday (5/25/2022) at Amiek Sumindriyatmi Building. Photo by Humas MK/Ilham W.M.

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Wednesday, May 25, 2022 | 15:14 WIB

SOLO, Public Relations—Constitutional Justices Manahan M. P. Sitompul and Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh gave public lectures on “The Position of the Constitution as the Foundation to the Government Administration” at Amiek Sumindriyatmi Building of the Law Faculty of Sebelas Maret University (FH UNS), Wednesday, May 25, 2022 in Solo, Central Java. The event was collaboration between the faculty and the Constitutional Court (MK).

Constitutional Justice Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh delivered the first lecture on “The Constitution, the Constitutional Court, and Constitutional Democratic Governance.” He said that since 1945 Indonesia had made several changes to the Constitution in accordance with the times. Political dynamics and the Constitution, he said, are comparable to the railway transport. “If the train doesn’t run following the tracks, it will cause chaos,” he said. In his book, he states that the government regulations in lieu of laws (perppu) are also objects of judicial review in the Constitutional Court because their substance equals that of laws.

He revealed that before becoming a constitutional justice, he had conducted a study where he concluded that in several countries, the perppu was comparable to emergency laws. In several countries, the perppu is issued based on the president’s subjective perspective of a compelling crisis situation and must be approved by the House of Representatives.

President’s Discretion

In the next lecture, Constitutional Justice Manahan M. P. Sitompul also said that the perppu is the president’s discretion. It is a legal policy by the president and the House of Representatives (DPR) whose formation must follow the law.

He also explained Indonesia’s status as a law-based state, which prior to the amendment to the 1945 Constitution had been stated in the elucidation. The amenders of the Constitution had stressed that Indonesia was a law-based state based on Pancasila. Therefore, an agreement was made during the amendment that the Preamble to the Constitution not be amended as it contained Pancasila, the elucidation to the Constitution to the body. As such, the amendment to the Constitution was done as addendums, without eliminating the original form of the 1945 Constitution.

Maintains Balance

Finally, Bambang Manumayoso, a practitioner of oil who teaches at FH UNS, explained the relationship between the Pancasila state, the law, the government, and the business world. He believed Pancasila maintained a balance between the interests of investors, who adhere to capitalism, and the principle of mutual cooperation.

Answering the questions asked by the participants regarding the discourse on the inclusion of the state policy outlines (PPHN) in the 1945 Constitution, Justice Manahan emphasized that it depended on the legislatures, whether it would be compatible with the presidential system where each president had their own work program.

Justice Foekh answered that the public must be able to distinguish what norms were unconstitutional from those that were part of the law.

He further said that different public perceptions of the Constitutional Court decisions were ordinary, and even made an interesting topic for discussion even motion for student debate competitions. Going back to the question on the inclusion of PPHN in the Constitution, he considered the issue an interesting topic for academic studies.

Writer       : Ilham M. W.
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
Translator : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 5/27/2022 10:24 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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