Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat speaking at a public lecture on “The Constitutional Court’s Role in Maintaining Constitutional Law Supremacy and Public Aspirations” at Unmas, Denpasar, Bali, Friday (8/5/2021). Photo by Humas MK/Yuwandi.
Friday, August 5, 2022 | 17:11 WIB
JAKARTA—Social media is in control of many people’s lives so the state can oversee it, said Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat at a public lecture on “The Constitutional Court’s Role in Maintaining Constitutional Law Supremacy and Public Aspirations” organized by Mahasaraswati University (Unmas), Denpasar, Bali on Friday, August 5, 2022.
“When formulating Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution, the founding fathers asserted that all things that control the lives of many shall be controlled by the state. They only thought about natural resources at the time. However, not only natural resources control the lives of many. Electricity and social media also do, thus must be overseen by the authorities. Therefore, [the Ministry of Communication and Informatics] can block hate speech on social media, otherwise it would endanger the unity of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia,” he said in his presentation on “Reaffirming the Goals and Vision of the State in the Era of Society 5.0.”
He also talked about how civilization had moved from hunting society to agrarian society, followed by the industrial revolution that started with the invention of steam engine, electricity, etc. Years later, the world moved towards the information society with the invention of computers, until the today’s 5.0 where the super-smart society has experienced extraordinary development.
“The Constitutional Court is also developing digital technology. That said, will all aspects of life be replaced by digital technology? [It was predicted] that in today’s 5.0 era, humans would be replaced by robots. But it [did not happen]. Everything is still based on human beings,” he stressed.
Justice Arief highlighted the positive and negative sides of informatics. The positive impacts are apparent amid the pandemic where remote meeting is possible despite people not meeting physically. Today, the Constitutional Court still organizes remote hearings. Meanwhile, the negative impacts include irresponsible use of social media that led to the post-truth era. Misinformation and disinformation are repeated on social media until they become the truth. Justice Arief also talked about how hate speech and negative narratives that are aimed at dividing the nation when they are widely shared without any rechecking.
VUCA
Justice Arief also explained VUCA—volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity—a military term from the 1990s that reflected today’s 5.0 era. Volatility refers to unpredictable, unmeasurable, rapid changes in the dynamic society, thus requiring good vision, goals, and intention.
Uncertainty, he said, requires caution. Therefore, today’s leaders must be active and think outside the box to predict the future. Complexity, he added, means today’s situations cannot be overcome in fragments. Everything, he said, will reflect on lawmaking, legal planning, legal politics, etc.
Justice Arief said ambiguity refers to vague reality. “That is why we have to be flexible and think outside the box,” he said.
Memorandum of Understanding
Justice Arief also witnessed the signing of memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Constitutional Court and Unmas by Unmas Rector I Made Sukamerta and Secretary-General M. Guntur Hamzah virtually from Makassar. The MoU is aimed at improving public understanding of the citizens’ constitutional rights and the quality of legal higher education.
In his remarks, Sukamerta welcomed Justice Arief to deliver his public lecture. “Today we welcome an extraordinary guest, His Excellency Constitutional Justice Prof. Dr. Arief Hidayat. [Unmas] is very grateful to be given the opportunity to have an MoU with the Constitutional Court and for His Excellency Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat who will give a very rare public lecture for Mahasaraswati University students,” he said.
Sukamerta said Justice Arief’s lecture would be very useful for students because it would be delivered directly by one of the constitutional justices. “The Constitutional Court is one of the state’s high institutions in charge of supervising all statutory laws so that they are in accordance with the Constitution and Pancasila,” he said. He also mentioned the Court’s other authorities: deciding disputes between state institutions, deciding the dissolution of political parties, deciding disputes over election results, and deciding the impeachment of the president.
Meanwhile, the Head of the Public Relations and National Affairs Department Fajar Laksono said that the MoU between the Court and Unmas was the 265th that the Court had signed with its partners throughout Indonesia.
“Earlier we witnessed together the signing electronically using electronic stamp. The Court in the last 2-3 years has been doing a digital transformation. All activities in the Constitutional Court are digitized, although not yet fully. So the Secretary-General of the Court gave a direction to implement this digital transformation,” said Fajar onsite on behalf of Secretary-General M. Guntur Hamzah.
Fajar said that the MoU reflected a bond between the Constitutional Court and Unmas as well as other partners of the Court. “Why is the Constitutional Court always enthusiastic for cooperation with various parties, various groups in this country? Because as the guardian of the Constitution, it cannot guard and enforce the Constitution alone. It needs cooperation, collaboration, and synergy with various groups, especially [higher education]. Today, there are more partners to support and improve the constitutional culture of citizens,” he said.
Writer : Nano Tresna Arfana
Editor : Lulu Anjarsari P.
Translator : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)
Translation uploaded on 8/8/2022 11:10 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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