Secretary-General M. Guntur Hamzah with BPHN’s head of Center for Analysis and Evaluation of National Laws Yunan Hilmy and acting head of Pancasila and Constitution Education Center Imam Margono at a technical assistance program for legal analysts Batch II, Friday (8/26/2022). Photo by MKRI/Teguh.
Friday, August 26, 2022 | 18:34 WIB
JAKARTA (MKRI)—Many decisions by the Constitutional Court (MK) could serve as references for legal analysts, said Secretary-General M. Guntur Hamzah at the technical assistance program for legal analysts Batch II on Friday, August 26, 2022 virtually.
“Until today, the Court has ruled on over 1,500 judicial review cases and election cases. On the Court’s website, there are over 3,000 decisions. This is a vast resource for legal analysts, whose competency, not only must they improved their capacity for analyzing norms in legislation, but they must also study and understand the decisions,” he said to 376 legal analysts from ministries/agencies and regional/provincial governments.
He also asserted that legal analysts must understand procedural law for judicial review, which can be a reference for them. He added that they must understand the Court’s decisions in depth, as they equal laws themselves.
“Why are they equal? Because the decisions are concrete forms of the Constitution and our laws. People say that the law could change with a court decision by the Supreme Court or the Constitutional Court. Not to mention, the Constitutional Court decisions are final and binding. In the Constitution, all citizens are equal before the law and in government. It is a constitutional promise, but is the reality like so? That is why a concrete form is necessary, [such as] the law on the state budget. The Constitution mandated 20% of educational budget from the state budget. It is a promise. When it was decided by the Court, the promise was implemented in a concrete form as the Court’s promise must be abide by the state,” he said.
Also read: Justice Anwar Usman Stresses Importance of Constitutional Rights to Legal Analysts
Guntur also said that the people must strengthen legal culture that not only promotes maintaining integrity and cohesiveness while also preserving local wisdom. Therefore, despite following foreign principles, the people must refer to Pancasila and constitutional values.
“I hope the materials on judicial review procedural law will be greatly beneficial. Congratulations to all participants of this program. Hopefully the materials will be beneficial for your career and competency as legal analysts,” he hoped.
The participants expressed their messages and impressions of the program. On behalf of all participants, Reza Fikri Febriansyah expressed gratitude for the opportunity to join the program. “Thank you very much for the opportunity to join the program, which many people are enthusiastic about. We obtained so much knowledge and experience in terms of substance and technicality. Hopefully this will help the Court perform its duties and responsibilities to guard constitutional supremacy,” he said.
Also read: Legal Analysts Learn Constitutional Court’s Procedural Laws
Electronic Petition Information System
On this last day and session of the program, the legal analysts were encouraged to understand the Court’s electronic petition information system (SIMPEL). Computer officer of the Court’s Center for Information and Communication Technology Riska Aprian explained that information and communications technology (ICT) has been part of the Court’s services and is used to make access easier for litigants. More importantly, he said, the Center for ICT uses several security systems such as Paloalto, the first firewall to prevent attacks on the networking system; Iron Port to check and filter emails against malware, virus, spam, and so on; anti DDOS; and a mirroring server to back up the server in case it is down.
“The Court cooperates with [the National Cyber and Encryption Agency (BSSN)] in security in terms of web application firewall, digital signature, security monitoring, and HR if there are issues that the Court cannot handle on its own,” explained Ian when sharing his experience as part of the IT team that handles online and offline hearings in the Constitutional Court.
Ian revealed that the Court had been conducting remote hearings since 2004, first by borrowing a video conferencing system by the Police. It also cooperated with 42 universities throughout Indonesia to allow those living far from Jakarta and had time constraint to appear before the Court at a designated university. During the pandemic, the Court still conduct hearings remotely to adhere to the health protocol, with requirements that all parties must comply with—stable internet connection, good lighting, adequate electronic media, and electronic devices in silent mode.
Also read: Legal Analysts Learn Drafting Judicial Review Petition
The program would run for four days from Tuesday to Friday, August 23-26, 2022 with 376 participants. The participants would receive materials on the Constitution, the Constitutional Court, the procedural law for judicial review, and the drafting of judicial review petition. Former constitutional justices, substitute registrars, and other speakers would deliver presentations.
Writer : Utami Argawati
Editor : Lulu Anjarsari P.
Translator : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)
Translation uploaded on 11/7/2022 11:39 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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