Deputy Chief Justice Aswanto delivering a lecture to the law students of University of East Indonesia, Friday (11/18/2022). Photo by MKRI/Ilham W. M.

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Friday, November 18, 2022 | 17:18 WIB

JAKARTA (MKRI) — Deputy Chief Justice Aswanto delivered a public lecture on “The Role and Functions of the Constitutional Court in Law Enforcement in Indonesia” at the Law Faculty of University of East Indonesia (UIT) of Makassar virtually on Friday, November 18, 2022. Before around 90 law students and faculty members, he talked about the enforcement of the law by the Constitutional Court (MK).

He said that the lawmaking process and its products may not be in line with the needs of the people and the Constitution since they are political products. Those laws concern the citizens’ constitutional law, which must be respected, thus the people must understand the legal products that are related to their constitutional rights.

“The people must actively try to understand their constitutional rights and the Constitutional Court’s authorities. They must understand the Court’s authorities to review laws, decide interagency authority disputes, decide the dissolution of political parties, and decide disputes over election results, given it’s role as the guardian of the Constitution,” he said before UIT rector Rahman, Law Faculty dean Amiruddin Pabbu, dan and head of the postgraduate study program Patawari.

The community can bring those legal products to the Constitutional Court to review. As individuals, they can request the Court to interpret legal norms.

“Because Indonesia is a law-based state, our rights are protected by law. However, if [those rights] are not fought for, they could be violated. Therefore, we must take our role in realizing democracy through public participation by understanding state issues and [joining] discussions and finding information from reliable sources,” he explained.

UIT students were enthusiastic in asking questions during the Q&A session. Nasyiruddin, student of Class C20 of the extension class of 2020, asked about the community’s role in lawmaking, which is the authority of the House of Representatives and the Regional Representatives Council (DPD).

In response, Deputy Chief Justice Aswanto said that the petitions lodged to the Constitutional Court are one of the forms of public participation. They reflect the community’s awareness and understanding of legal products, which might not be suited to the community’s needs or the Constitution.

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

Translation uploaded on 11/21/2022 08:52 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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