Constitutional Justice Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh delivering a presentation at a national seminar by the Kadiri Islamic University, Kediri, Saturday (6/25/2021). Photo by Humas MK/Hendy.
Saturday, June 25, 2022 | 19:47 WIB
JAKARTA, Public Relations—In order to improve the understanding of the citizens’ constitutional rights and the quality of higher legal education, the Constitutional Court (MK) collaborated with the Kadiri Islamic University (Uniska) of Kediri. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed on Saturday afternoon, June 25, 2022 at Uniska by Secretary-General M. Guntur Hamzah and Uniska Rector Ali Maschan Moesa.
“The signing of this MoU is the 260th that the Court has done. In the last years, we have been using digital signatures, so when the signatures on the MoU are displayed on the screen they need only be scanned through your smartphone and it is automatically downloaded. This is the importance of information technology,” he said in his remarks.
Guntur explained that the Court has implemented electronic-based judicial system. “As long as our business process uses paper, electronic technology [makes] digital objects in order to keep everything transparent and accountable,” he said.
Guntur also emphasized the importance of justice both in theory and practice. He said that the constitutional justices implement justice in performing their duties. The Constitutional Court is always upholding justice. He said Michael J. Sandel in his book What’s The Right Thing To Do says that there are three sides to justice: freedom, welfare, and wisdom.
Local Wisdom
Meanwhile, Ali Maschan Moesa talked about the importance of implementing justice. He believed those who often violated the law must understand it. However, those who upheld local wisdom would not violate the law.
“Justice is easy to say, hard to practice. Whatever and whenever, it must be upheld,” he said.
He also expressed his gratitude and highest appreciation for the Constitutional Court for the signing of the MoU and the national seminar.
Election in the Constitution
The MoU signing was followed by a national seminar on “The Fulfillment of Citizens’ Political Rights in General Election and Regional Head Election.” Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra gave a key lecture and explained the inclusion of elections in the Constitution.
“One of the extraordinary achievements of the drafters of the 1945 Constitution was the explicit inclusion of the election in the Constitution. Why so? In the previous text, we could not find election explicitly, how it was [supposed to be] carried out,” he explained virtually.
He added that during the New Order, there were 460 House (DPR) members in Indonesia, but 100 were not elected. “This was a source of criticism for many at that time,’ he said.
He also explained the amendment to the 1945 Constitution includes retaining the Preamble, removing the Elucidation, and maintaining the presidential system.
“We know there are two very general models of government systems, the parliamentary and the presidential systems. The amendment to the Constitution maintained the presidential system because Indonesia has experienced the trauma of the parliamentary system in 1945-1959. The government had seen ups and downs, was constantly changing, there was no certainty, there were conflicts among political parties, so the constitutional amenders maintained the presidential system in Indonesia,” he revealed.
Living Constitution
Meanwhile, Constitutional Justice Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh explained the living constitution, which means that the Constitution should be interpreted according to the development of society, akin to a living organism). He then quoted the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
“This is important, because the Constitutional Court as the interpreter of the Constitution often faces concrete cases, where it must make a decision,” he said.
He then explained that a country’s constitution is its highest and most important law, the source of all laws and other statutory regulations. In constitutional supremacy, all decisions and actions must be in accordance with the Constitution. In addition, the constitution binds all state organs and their citizens.
The Constitutional Court, Justice Foekh added, is regulated in Article 24 paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution, which reads, “Judicial power shall be made by a Supreme Court and judicial bodies thereunder within a general judicature, religious court, military court, state administration court, and by a Constitutional Court.”
In carrying out its duties, the Constitutional Court has four powers and one obligation. The main authority is to examine laws against the Constitution. Then, to decide on authority disputes between state institutions, decide on the dissolution of political parties, and decide on disputes over election results. It is also obligated to decide on the opinion of the House if the president and/or vice president are suspected of having violated the law.
Writer : Nano Tresna Arfana
Editor : Lulu Anjarsari P.
Translator : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)
Translation uploaded on 6/28/2022 13:24 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.
Saturday, June 25, 2022 | 19:47 WIB 208