Acting Secretary-General Heru Setiawan reporting on the focus group discussion for legal experts and academics, Saturday (12/17/2022) at the Pancasila and Constitution Education Center, Cisarua, Bogor. Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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Saturday, December 17, 2022 | 20:44 WIB

BOGOR (MKRI) — Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat officially closed the focus group discussion for legal experts and academics at the Pancasila and Constitution Education Center, Cisarua, Bogor, West Java Province on Saturday, December 17, 2022.

“It is really extraordinary that, despite our infrequent meeting, our collaboration came true. Despite distance, we are now friends of the Constitutional Court, which promotes advancing higher legal education in Indonesia and building Indonesian law as the founding fathers aspired to in our Constitution,” he said.

He also said that current fast-paced condition is prone to infiltration and influences, resulting in technological disruptions. “We need to be vigilant, ideological influences that are not just left or right, but in the middle, have emerged, that is, pragmatism and hedonism, which are dispersed through social media to weaken Indonesia’s social cohesion,” he said before 34 law experts and academics.

He believed that today many people speak more loudly than experts, presenting alternative, inaccurate truths.

“I hope we become influencers to convey the truth to the public. Together we can narrate how Indonesia must stand upright based on the basic ideology of Pancasila, which has our vision and mission as listed in the Preamble to the 1945 Constitution,” he added.

He added that the Constitutional Court could not stand alone and needed friend of courts, including legal experts and academics law. “We have laid down the pillars of good cooperation and to pass this legacy to younger generations in the field of law so that Indonesia can still stand on the ideology and foundation of Pancasila,” he said.

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During this closing session, acting Secretary-General Heru Setiawan presented a report and summary of the three-day event. Thanks to the FGD on The Development of Higher Legal Education Toward a Legal System with Pancasila Character,” the Court received a lot of enlightenment, insights, and inputs on improving the quality of higher legal education organized.

“This FGD is also a valuable academic reunion. Apart from being a forum for conveying ideas and views regarding the ideals and hopes for the realization of a legal system with the Pancasila character, this FGD has been a warm and memorable gathering forum,” he said.

Heru also said the FGD had resulted in thoughts and ideas, including the Constitutional Court’s emphasis of Pancasila as staatsfundamentalnorms. Pancasila values need to be internationalized so it system becomes a reference for legal systems in world democracies, and internalized in three areas—attitude and behavior, policies, and regulations and legislation. “This is also implemented in higher legal education,” he said.

Heru further said that higher legal education is in a paradox where legal knowledge is taught amid chaotic legal atmosphere. At the same time, corruption continues, the integrity of law enforcement is weak, and the people lack awareness of their rights. In addition, higher legal education received complaints that law graduates were unprepared for the workplace, only theoretically-oriented but lacking character and competitiveness.

He believed more focused, in-depth FGDs would be necessary to help realize a legal system with Pancasila characters by adapting legal principles in legal sciences such as constitutional law, criminal law, civil law, etc. He also recommended an FGD committee consisting of ministry officials who has policymaking power in the development of higher legal education and law professors within legal sciences.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the results of this FGD we will be used as a guide and a starting point in planning, designing, and implementing follow-up events next year. God willing, we are ready to execute and follow up,” he said.

The FGD and PPHKWN took for four days from Thursday to Saturday, December 15-17 2022, with 34 professors and academics and 8 guests in attendance. Several constitutional justices attended the event. For three days, the participants engaged in intensive discussions for the development of higher legal education.

Writer        : Bambang Panji E.
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 12/28/2022 11:06 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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