Abdul Ghoffar, an expert assistant to the constitutional justices, welcoming constitutional law lecturers of Andalas University in the Constitutional Court, Thursday (11/17/2022). Photo by MKRI/Panji.

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Thursday, November 17, 2022 | 15:44 WIB

JAKARTA (MKRI) — Eighteen constitutional law lecturers of Andalas University (Unand) visited the Constitutional Court (MK) on Thursday, November 17, 2022. They were welcomed by the head of the Center for Research, Case Review, and Library Management Kurniasih Panti Rahayu and Abdul Ghoffar, an expert assistant to the constitutional justices at the meeting room on the 11th floor.

In his presentation entitled “Understanding the Procedural Law for Judicial Review,” Ghoffar encouraged the lecturers to recall Article 24C paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution, which he said was the results of the fight for Reform and was the Constitutional Court’s basis for guarding the Constitution. The Court exists to be a negative legislator on the legislators’ (House of Representatives) product (laws).

He also explained that in a democracy, laws could be far from constitutional values, as they are political products. Therefore, the Constitutional Court, established in 2003, is a medium for citizens to challenge laws that they believe are not in line with the Constitution.

The Court’s judicial review authority, he said, has expanded from only applying to laws to norms that are at the level of a law as well as their lawmaking process.

“So, the objects of judicial review are laws, government regulations in lieu of laws, and the formation thereof. Basically, judicial review is part of a system created to achieve constitutional goals by ensuring that the 1945 Constitution serves as the highest legal basis in Indonesia, thus any law that the House creates must not go against the 1945 Constitution. Therefore, a judicial review system was made to run by the judiciary such as the Constitutional Court,”  Ghoffar explained.

He also explained how to identify a judicial review case: there are subjects, there is the object and deadline, there are parameters for the review, there are judicial review principles and the Constitutional Court’s regulation on settling such cases. He also encouraged the lecturers to monitor hearings in the Constitutional Court, starting from the petitions filed until the Court’s decisions. The Court’s decisions, he added, are binding and must be implemented by all relevant parties without any executorial act.

Writer        : Sri Pujianti
Editor        : Nur R.
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 11/21/2022 08:28 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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