Constitutional Justice Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh giving a public lecture at the State University of Manado, Saturday (9/24/2022). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

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Saturday, September 24, 2022 | 11:34 WIB

JAKARTA (MKRI)—Constitutional Justice Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh shared his knowledge to students at a public lecture on “The Constitutional Court’s Position and Function in Guarding State Ideology Pancasila” by the State University of Manado (UNIMA) on Saturday, September 24, 2022 on site at the GKB Room, Manado. He encouraged the students to understand the meaning of Pancasila from terminological, etymological, and historical perspectives. Only then, he said, they would understand what Pancasila means as the state ideology. Pancasila, to him, is the manifestation of the people’s life values that reflect the nation’s characteristics.

He then explained the concept of Indonesia’s rule of law based on Article 1 paragraph (3) of the 1945 Constitution, which reads, “The State of Indonesia shall be a law-based state.” In principle, that concept must be in line with four legal ideals: maintaining the integration of the nation and state both ideologically and territorially, realizing people’s sovereignty (democracy) and rule of law (nomocracy) simultaneously, realizing general welfare and social justice for all Indonesian people, and implementing tolerance on the basis of humanity and civility in religious life.

Justice Foekh then talked about the Constitutional Court’s decisions in relation to Indonesia’s law-based state and Pancasila ideology, following the Court’s function as the guardian of the state ideology based on Article 24C paragraphs (1) and (2) of the 1945 Constitution and the Constitutional Court Law. In Decisions No. 140/PUU-VII/2009 dated April 19, 2010 on the judicial review of Law No. 1/PNPS/1965 on the Prevention of Religious Abuse and/or Blasphemy and No. 82/PUU-XVI/2018 dated November 26, 2018 on the judicial review of Law No. 12 of 2011 on Lawmaking, in its legal considerations, the Court expressly and clearly asserted, “… the Constitutional Court serves not only as the guardian of the Constitution but also the guardian of state ideology, in line with the Court’s judicial review authority over laws against the Constitution. If a petition is filed to review the constitutionality of a norm, the Court not only reviews the norm against articles of the Constitution, but also Pancasila values….”

“In addition, the Court also applies its function as the guardian of the state ideology in 11 programs organized by the Court’s Pancasila and Constitution Education Center including constitution awareness program for citizens, technical assistance on the Court’s procedural laws, and technical assistance on legal drafting. The Court has had 33,149 alumni of these programs until 2021. Hopefully the programs help improve citizens’ understanding and awareness of the Constitution,” he said before the participants and UNIMA vice rector for student affairs Donal Ratu.

At the end of his presentation, Justice Foekh revealed the Court’s domestic and international cooperation programs. Domestically, it collaborates with universities to sign a memorandum of understanding to present the smartboard mini courtroom at 50 locations throughout Indonesia to facilitate justice seekers to follow Court proceedings. It has also inaugurated model villages that are able to disseminate the Constitution to its residents to become constitution villages. The Court has also actively participated in international events such as being a permanent secretariat for the Association of Asian Constitutional Courts and Equivalent Institutions (AACC), the Judicial Conference of Constitutional and Supreme Courts/Councils of the OIC Member States/ Observer States (J-OIC). The Court will also have the honor to host a congress of the World Conference on Constitutional Justice (WCCJ) in October in Bali.

Writer        : Sri Pujianti
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 11/15/2022 15:50 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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