Constitutional Justices Arief Hidayat, Suhartoyo, and Enny Nurbaningsih talking to the participants of the 2022 Constitution Speech Contest for lurahs and village chiefs in all of Solo, Friday (6/17/2021). Photo by Humas MK/Hamdi.

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Friday, June 17, 2022 | 23:53 WIB

JAKARTA, Public Relations—As one of the important elements in the constitutional structure, the village government is the closest to the people in realizing regional autonomy. Lurahs and village chiefs are spearheading the realization of the people’s welfare, especially in economy and creating a society that observes the Constitution.

In order to empower lurahs/village chiefs in realizing constitutional awareness and using Pancasila as guidelines to behavior, the Constitutional Court (MK) collaborated with the Law Faculty of Universitas Sebelas Maret (FH UNS) held the semifinal round of a constitution speech contest between lurahs/village chiefs in all of Solo in 2022 on Friday, June 17, 2022 at the Amiek Sumindriyatmi Hall, Building III of FH UNS. The Constitutional Court’s Secretary-General M. Guntur Hamzah and the Dean of FH UNS I Gusti Ayu Ketut Rachmi Handayani were in attendance.

Internalizing Pancasila

Before the contest started, Constitutional Justices Arief Hidayat, Suhartoyo, and Enny Nurbaningsih delivered presentations. Justice Arief talked about “Internalizing Pancasila as the State Ideology.” Justice Arief believed that lurahs/village chiefs were at the forefront of realizing Pancasila-based Indonesia. He added that all elements of society, including lurahs/village chiefs, should not tire from internalizing Pancasila values because the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia is facing a lot of challenges. He said that the COVID-19 pandemic in the last two years led to high state budgets, but the nation persevered due to its abundant natural resources that could be optimized for the people’s needs. In addition, he said, Indonesia’s strength and power was thanks to God Almighty.

“Because the basic of the state is Pancasila, the highly heterogeneous Indonesia—in terms of race, ethnicity, regional language, and culture—remains whole as a great country and nation. Therefore, we must uphold the nation’s vision and mission enshrined in the Preamble to the 1945 Constitution paragraph four,” Justice Arief said.

Through his presentation, he also expressed hope that all lurahs/village chiefs, who are at the forefront of the government, invite the young generation to introduce Pancasila values by example exemplified by the nation’s founders. He realized that developing Indonesia is not easy, but by encouraging the younger generation to include the values of the state ideology, the nation will grow rapidly into a great, prosperous, and just country. 

Protection of Constitutional Rights

Next, Constitutional Justice Suhartoyo talked about “The Constitutional Court and the Protection of Citizens’ Constitutional Rights.” He encouraged all citizens to be grateful for the Constitutional Court as it allows Indonesians to fight to defend their constitutional rights, which citizens of other nations could only do within certain limits due to the absence of a constitutional court. He also appealed to lurahs/village chiefs to introduce the Constitutional Court and its constitutional authorities to their communities.

He said that one of the Court’s main duties granted by the 1945 Constitution is judicial review of laws against the Constitution. It allows the Court to provide protection to the constitutional rights of the citizens, which are enshrined in the Constitution.

“This is where the Constitutional Court’s and the Supreme Court’s authorities differ. The Supreme Court settles concrete cases, while anyone can file a case to the Constitutional Court as long as it pertains a certain law that leads to injustice and legal uncertainty,” he explained.

Landmark Decisions

Meanwhile, Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbaningsih delivered a presentation on “The Constitutional Court’s Landmark Decisions.” She encouraged lurahs/village chiefs to get to know the Court through its landmark decisions. A landmark decision, she said, necessitates that it contains a new legal principle, for example, one on the definition of “privatization” in water resource. “So, the public will understand the meaning of production branches significant to the state and anything controlling the lives of many in the legislation and the 1945 Constitution,” she said.

Another prerequisite is that it provides solutions to administrative practices and legal system in Indonesia, such as that on simultaneous national elections. It could also be one that repeals the entirety of a law, such as those on the Cooperative Law, the Water Resource Law, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Last, it must have strategic constitutional values, such as that on the Regional Representatives Council (DPD).

Semifinal

After the presentations, 75 lurahs/village chiefs from seven regencies/cities performed before a 14-person jury at the semifinal of the contest. They came from Surakarta City, Boyolali Regency, Klaten Regency, Sukoharjo Regency, Karanganyar Regency, Wonogiri Regency, and Sragen Regency.

The constitution speech contest started in April until June 18. In 20 May to 8 June, the participants had registered and sent a 7-10 speech video. Seventy-five of the best videos went on to compete in today’s semifinal.

At each round, the participants were to give a speech with different themes. At the elimination round, they delivered one on “The Implementation of Pancasila” while at the semifinal, they delivered one on “The Role of Lurahs/Village Chiefs in Implementing Pancasila Values in the Village Life.” At the final round, they will take a theme related to one of the Court’s landmark decisions.

The contest is aimed at empowering lurahs/village chiefs in improving constitutional awareness and disseminating the Constitutional Court’s decisions as well as in implementing Pancasila values in the village life.

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

Translation uploaded on 6/20/2022 09:46 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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