Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra at a discussion of the book “Indonesian Constitution Law” at the Indonesia International Book Fair (IIBF) 2022, Wednesday (11/9/2022). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.
Wednesday, November 9, 2022 | 16:23 WIB
JAKARTA, (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court’s (MK) Secretary-General M. Guntur Hamzah delivered his remarks at the launch and discussion of the books Indonesian Constitutional Law and Pemilihan Umum Demokratis (Democratic Elections) at the Indonesia International Book Fair (IIBF) 2022 at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC), Senayan, Jakarta on Wednesday, November 9, 2022. Attending the event on site, Guntur said that as the judicial institution exercising the mandate to guard the Constitution, the Constitutional Court always tries to develop academic spirit and ethos through reading, discussions, and writing academic books.
“The Constitutional Court is often referred to as a “constitution university” because of the productivity of the constitutional justices and the staff members in academic activities, such as publishing academic works, be it books and nationally and internationally reputed journal articles. Consequently, in the Constitutional Court we always work in academic atmostphere and intellectual culture,” he said before Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra, academics, and IIBF audience.
He said that for the last three years, the Court has been cooperating with RajaGrafindo Persada publishing and published 82 books by constitutional justices, former constitutional justices, and Court staff. They did not stop amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, instead became more productive.
“Along with the books that we will be releasing at the end of this year, the total number will exceed 100 books,” he revealed.
Guntur said the Constitutional Court offices would be surrounded by books by constitutional justices, former constitutional justices, and staff members. He also quoted Cicero: “If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”
“The Constitutional Court, other institutions, and universities, ladies and gentlemen, will not run out of references because the ideas have been written in published academic works. Similarly, the publishing of books by the Constitutional Court also serves to contribute to the legal and constitutional literature as well as to improve literacy for the wider public,” he said.
Book Launch
Guntur said Justice Saldi Isra has been an important driving force and motivator for constitutional justices and staff to produce academic works. As a lecturer, he has guided hundreds of students to complete their undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral studies. The justice, Guntur said, has published more than 12 books, 30 journal articles, and 500 essays in newspapers and other print media.
This time, two books by Justice Saldi Isra were launched and discussed. First, Indonesian Constitutional Law, which he wrote in English alongside expert assistant to constitutional justices and editor-in-chief of the Constitutional Court’s Constitutional Review journal Pan Mohamad Faiz. Second, Pemilihan Umum Demokratis (Democratic Elections), which he wrote alongside Khairul Fahmi. These books may serve as source reference for lecturers, students, and researchers to discuss elections in Indonesia.
Until today, Guntur revealed, the Constitutional Court is the only state and judicial institution in Indonesia to have a Scopus-indexed international legal journal. “This is a proof that the Constitutional Court deserves the name of a ‘constitution university,’” he said.
At the end of his remarks, he thanked the committee and the IIBF, the National Library, the Indonesian Publishers Association (IKAPI), RajaGrafindo Persada publishing, and Advokat Konstitusi—a youth forum and community that often reviews the law and the Constitution and provide legal and constitutional education on hot issues on social media.
“I hope this cooperation and collaboration will continue, especially in publishing academic works in order to improve our knowledge and understanding and improve Indonesian literacy,” he said.
Author’s Words
Justice Saldi Isra said a good writer should not concern themselves with whether people agree with their writing or not. “A good writer writes what exists. Let the readers judge it for themselves,” he said.
He said that many people have ideas that people do not know. He encouraged the audience not to think about achieving perfection because perfection only belongs to God.
“I’d like to thank Prof. Guntur, Faiz, and my office colleagues who share the same spirit. I also owe it to the publisher for cooperating with the Constitutional Court to publish these works, which can be distributed to universities and schools,” he said.
Talking about the books, he said that during the amendment to the Constitution in 1999 to 2002, the election was a hot topic. Then Article 22 of the 1945 Constitution was written to detail the principles of democratic elections.
“We determined the principles of democratic elections in the 1949 Constitution of the Republic of the United States of Indonesia (RIS), although they were not implemented because there was no election under the RIS Constitution. Not to mention, the RIS Constitution was in force less than 8 months after ratified until it was replaced by the Provisional Constitution of 1950. The first election took place in 1955 to elect House members, and members of the Constitutional Assembly in order to prepare for the new Constitution. So, the 1955 Election was said to be the first and most democratic election, before the Constitution was amended,” he said.
Justice Saldi added that the 1999 Election was more democratic. Article 22 of the 1945 Constitution determines the principles of election, which still required interpretation since the Constitution did not explain in detail the voting system, which was then written in the Election Law. The Election Law used to also regulate the election of DPR, DPD, DPRD elections and the presidential election. It is now regulated in the General Election Law. meanwhile, the regional head elections are regulated in the Regional Election Law.
“Whether we are aware of it or not, the meaning of a democratic election in Indonesia is no longer monopolized by the legislatures through laws. The Constitutional Court also provide interpretation to the democratic election,” he stressed.
Constitutional Court’s Tradition
Meanwhile, Pan Mohamad Faiz, who co-wrote Indonesian Constitutional Law, said writing, reading, and discussion is a daily tradition in the Constitutional Court. The book was written in English because it was intended as a reference for both Indonesian and international researchers, he said.
He said Justice Saldi and him shared the same concern over the lack of international research in Indonesia. Foreign researchers often research Mongolia, for example, while Indonesia has more experience and research laboratories on elections, constitutionalism, etc.
“However, international researchers are not interested [in researching in Indonesia]. [Justice Saldi and I] talked about how the Court has published many books but not in any international languages. It would be impossible for international researchers to refer to Indonesian books if they do not speak the language. So, we plucked our courage [to publish this book], although this is a compilation of works that have been presented in international conferences and journals. We hope it will be a reference among international scholars and for [Indonesian authors] in writing journal [articles] and books in English,” he said.
Writer : Utami Argawati
Editor : Nur R.
Translator : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)
Translation uploaded on 12/12/2022 10:18 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.
Wednesday, November 09, 2022 | 16:23 WIB 120