Chief Justice Anwar Usman and President of the Constitutional Court of Turkey Zühtü Arslan signing the Istanbul Declaration, Friday (12/23/2022) in Istanbul, Turkey. Photo by MKRI.

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Wednesday, December 28, 2022 | 09:54 WIB

ISTANBUL (MKRI) — Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia (MKRI) Anwar Usman and Constitutional Justice Wahiduddin Adams attended an international conference of Muslim countries with invitation by the Constitutional Court of Turkey. The conference, which also marked the inauguration of the organization for those countries, the Conference of Constitutional Jurisdictions of the Islamic World (CCJ-I), took place on Friday-Saturday, December 23-24, 2022 in Istanbul, Turkey. The MKRI delegation joined three main events: a symposium, a discussion on the statute of the CCJ-I by the working committee (Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Gambia, and Algeria), and the inauguration of the CCJ-I followed by the signing of the statute by the constitutional jurisdictions attending the symposium.

During the symposium, Constitutional Justice Wahiduddin Adams delivered a presentation on “Various Models of Constitutional Review in Islamic Countries” in the second session. In his presentation, he explained that Indonesia is not a country based on religion, but religious values are often used as a reference in drafting various laws and regulations. The basic philosophy of Indonesia is Pancasila, whose first precept acknowledges that the state is based on the belief of One Supreme God. Thus, Indonesia is not a secular country. He also explained the hierarchy of laws and regulations in Indonesia and the MKRI’s authorities.

Justice Wahiduddin also explained that in Indonesia, judicial review is exercised by the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court, but with different object and touchstone. While the Constitutional Court reviews laws against the Constitution, the Supreme Court reviews legislation under the law against laws. He further explained there are two main constitutional review models: the abstract review and the concrete review. Indonesia adopts a combination of the abstract and concrete review models. The purpose of the review tends to align with that of the abstract review, but the assessment of the legal standing tends to mimic that of the concrete review.

Meanwhile, during the discussion of the CCJ-I Statute among the five founding constitutional jurisdictions, which were also the working committee for drafting the statute, Chief Justice Anwar Usman stressed the importance of finalizing and inaugurating the CCJ-I Statute immediately during the conference.

“As a country with the largest Muslim population in the world and experience of taking roles in various regional and international forums, the MKRI is ready to support the CCJ-I so that it continues to grow and has a good impact on all of its members,” he asserted. He added that many aspirations to complement and prepare for the organization can be discussed in subsequent meetings.

The draft of the statute, which the working committee had discussed and approved, was then presented at the inauguration, which was attended by 32 participating constitutional jurisdictions, who then provided inputs and approved it. They also signed the Istanbul Declaration, where they declared their agreement to adopt the official name CCJ-I and the CCJ-I Statute.

Writer        : Nallom Kurniawan
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 12/28/2022 15:10 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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