Constitutional Justice Manahan M. P. Sitompul delivering a public lecture on constitutional law to the postgraduate students and freshmen of the Law Faculty of Universitas Yapis Papua, Jayapura, Saturday (8/27/2022). Photo by MKRI/MMA.
Monday, August 29, 2022 | 09:22 WIB
(MKRI) — Before around 300 students and academics of Universitas Yapis (UNIYAP) Papua, Constitutional Justice Manahan M. P. Sitompul talked about the state of emergency, which is related to the Constitutional Court decisions on the COVID-19 pandemic, in a public lecture on “The Protection of the Citizens’ Constitutional Rights amid Pandemic” at the auditorium of H. Daud Syamsudin Ponto, UNIYAP, Jayapura on Saturday, August 27, 2022. Postgraduate students and freshmen of the university’s Law Faculty and other faculties attended the lecture both virtually and on site. Officials of the Papua Regional Development Planning Agency (Bappeda), Provincial Attorney Service, and Regional Police and faculty members of universities in Jayapura were in attendance.
In his remarks read by the head of Bappenda, the governor of Papua expressed his appreciation for the Justice Manahan’s lecture despite the pandemic. Meanwhile, the Postgraduate Director of Uniyap, Muh. Yamin Noch, said that public lectures are a form of knowledge transformation on constitutional law in the country.
Constitution and Emergency State
In his presentation, Justice Manahan said that the COVID-19 pandemic had changed the perspective on how legal products are created during the pandemic. “During a health emergency, the application of the law changes. The Government made a policy to overcome the pandemic by issuing a number of regulations, presidential decrees, and even a government regulation in lieu of law (perppu),” he said.
Lawmaking during a pandemic has been regulated by the Constitution, he said. “Article 12 of the 1945 Constitution is the constitutional basis for legal arrangements in emergency situations,” he said.
In the emergency state due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government made a policy through the Presidential Decree No. 11 of 2020 on the Declaration of Coronavirus Disease 2019 as Public Health Emergency, followed by the Presidential Decree No. 12 of 2020 on the Stipulation of Non-Natural Disaster of the COVID-19 Spread as a National Disaster.
Justice Manahan added that the Government also used its constitutional authority to issue a government regulation in lieu of law. “The government used Article 22 of the 1945 Constitution as the basis for issuing Government Regulation in Lieu of Law No. 1 of 2020 on the State’s Financial Policy and Fiscal Stability for the Mitigation of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)”, he added.
Issuance of a Perppu
Justice Manahan also discussed matters related to the compelling crisis situation referred to in Article 22 paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution. The Constitutional Court has issued Decision No. 138/PUU-VII/2009 on this matter.
“The Court has decided that it can review government regulations in lieu of laws, the drafting of which is in the hands of the president, but must be based on objective conditions, i.e. three conditions as parameters of a compelling crisis,” said.
The three conditions were, first, the urgent need to resolve legal issues quickly based on the law, second, the required law does not yet exist so there is a legal vacuum or there is a law but it is insufficient, third, the legal vacuum cannot be overcome by making laws in the usual way because it will take quite a long time while urgent matters need resolution.
Constitutional Court Decision and Public Safety
Justice Manahan also reviewed the impact of the pandemic on public safety and the fulfillment of community needs. This pandemic has resulted in the cessation of economic activities that absorb labor in various formal and informal sectors, resulting in termination of employment (PHK) in various business sectors.
“The next domino effect is that economic performance has dropped sharply due to disrupted consumption, hampered investment, cessation of export-import activities, which impact the financial sector where the profitability and solvency of companies continues to decline,” said the lecturer of Pelita Harapan University.
He further stated that the state should focus more on public safety in addition to state security. “In an emergency situation during the COVID-19 pandemic, the life of every Indonesian citizen is threatened, so people’s safety is the main priority, just like the principle solus populi suprema lex ‘public safety is the highest law,’” he said.
The Constitutional Court handed down Decision No. 37/PUU-XVIII/2020 on the judicial review of the COVID Law, based on the lack of transparency of the use of the COVID-19 budget and the involvement of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD).
Through this decision, the Court eliminated the immunity right of the Financial System Stability Committee (KKSK) in mitigating COVID-19 and decided the two-year enforcement of the COVID-19 Law. “The Court declared Article 27 paragraph (1) not constituting state loss if done with good intention and following legislation,” he stressed.
Similarly, the Court also revoked Article 27 paragraph (3) of the Appendix to the COVID-19 Law. “So, the Constitutional Court declared the object not an object in a lawsuit to the state administrative court as long as it is related to the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and is carried out in good faith and in accordance with statutory laws and regulations,” he said. The Court also declared Article 29 of the Appendix of the Government Regulation in Lieu of Law on COVID-19 in effect and will be void when the president announces the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The public lecture was closed with a Q&A session. The students asked questions about the concept of a welfare state during a pandemic emergency.
Writer : MMA
Editor : Nur R.
Translator : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)
Translation uploaded on 12/27/2022 07:58 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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