Enny delivering a guest lecture on “Building Constitutional Awareness toward a Welfare Rule of Law” at the Faculty of Sharia and Law of UIN Sayyid Ali Rahmatullah, Tulungagung, Thursday (8/18/2021). Photo by MKRI.

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Friday, August 19, 2022 | 11:37 WIB

JAKARTA (MKRI)—Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbaningsih gave a guest lecture on “Building Constitutional Awareness toward a Welfare Rule of Law” at the Faculty of Sharia and Law of UIN (Islamic State University) Sayyid Ali Rahmatullah, Tulungagung on Thursday, August 18, 2022 on-site.

She began her lecture by talking about the uniqueness and diversity of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia, which needed guidelines: Pancasila, the slogan Bhinneka Tunggal Ika or “unity in diversity,” and the 1945 Constitution.

Definition of Constitution

Justice Enny said that in order to build a constitutional awareness, students must first understand the the Constitution, which is a formal constitutional document that contains common goals to be achieved by a country.

“The constitution is also a collection of legal principles and rules governing an organization or a manifesto of ideal statements that are generally intended to be realized,” she said.

In general, she added, a constitution regulates state organs, how these organs work, as well as their duties, functions, and authorities. It contains, explicitly or implicitly, common goals to be achieved by the country.

She further explained that the constitution, among others, functions as a regulator of state administrative activities and a symbol of national identity. It also contains protection of human rights, the country’s basic constitutional structure, the division of administrative tasks, and restrictions of power.

Implementation of Constitution

Building constitutional awareness, Justice Enny said, must also be done by introducing the citizens’ constitutional rights and the legal mechanism in the event of violations of those rights. The Constitutional Court is an important institution that serves to guard the Constitution and protect the citizens’ constitutional rights.

Justice Enny also talked about the MPR’s (People’s Consultative Assembly) 1999 annual session on the amendment to the 1945 Constitution, on which its members agreed not to change the Preamble to the 1945 Constitution, to maintain the form of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia, to maintain the presidential system and to perfect it so that it would truly reflect the characteristics of the presidential system, to transfer normative matters in the elucidation to the 1945 Constitution into articles, and to adopt the addendum method in amending the 1945 Constitution.

Protection of Constitutional Rights

Justice Enny also revealed how the Constitutional Court’s (MK) authorities and functions realized the protection of constitutional rights. Article 24C paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution stipulates that the Constitutional Court has the authority to adjudicate at the first and final level with decisions are final to examine laws against the 1945 Constitution, to decide on disputes over the authority of state institutions whose authority is granted by the Constitution, to decide on the dissolution of political parties, to decide disputes over the election results, and to give a decision on the opinion of the House of Representatives (DPR) regarding alleged violations by the president and/or vice president according to the Constitution.

It also has an additional/transitional authority to rule on regional head election (pilkada) disputes based on Article 157 paragraph (3) of Law No. 10 of 2016, until a special judicial body is formed.

Writer        : Nano Tresna Arfana
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 8/24/2022 07:49 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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