The Foreign Affairs Ministry’s advisor for Interagency Relations Muhsin Syihab speaking at the opening of the Constitutional Court’s Workshop on International Relations on Friday (3/3/2023) in Bekasi. Photo by MKRI/Lulu A.
Friday, March 3, 2023 | 22:14 WIB
BEKASI (MKRI) — Foreign policy begins at home, so state institutions in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches must be strengthened, said Foreign Affairs Ministry’s advisor for Interagency Relations Muhsin Syihab at the opening of the Constitutional Court’s (MK) Workshop on International Relations on Friday, March 3, 2023 in Bekasi. Chief Justice Anwar Usman and Acting Secretary-General Heru Setiawan delivered their remarks, followed by presentations by the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s Director for Legal Affairs and Political and Security Treaties Purnomo Achmad Chandra and Director for American and European Intra- and Inter-regional Cooperation Nidya Kartikasari.
“So, the foreign policy that we present to our partners not only depends on the amount of our capital or the quality of our internal coordination. This, of course, shows that domestically we must prepare collaboration in implementing our functions with our partners abroad. Therefore, reinforcement of all lines of state institutions is crucial, not only in the executive branch, but also in the legislative and judicial branches,” he said before fifty-eight participants.
Muhsin added that the reinforcement would improve Indonesia’s credibility and political leverage abroad and project a positive image of Indonesia’s democracy. “Not only in terms of quantity, but also in terms of the quality of the manifestation of the people’s sovereignty,” he added.
He also emphasized that the positive image would elicit trust from other countries, not only from the governments but also stakeholders. “This will in turn guarantee certainty in the relations between Indonesia and its international partners both abroad and national,” he said.
Importance of International Cooperation
Meanwhile, Chief Justice Anwar Usman said that international cooperation has given the Constitutional Court real advantages, such as allowing it to disseminate its decisions that impact the country’s administration to other countries. In other words, it became a forum for learning and sharing distinctive practices that can have positive impacts on legal certainty and justice.
“Of course, the Court considers many types of international cooperation such as sharing of information, expertise, and experience, interagency meetings, and human resource capacity building. These types of cooperation can help the Court expand its international network and improve its capacity,” he said in his speech while opening the workshop officially.
In his report, Acting Secretary-General Heru Setiawan said the workshop would standardize and improve the Court’s international diplomacy. “We have great hopes to provide quality support for the internationalization of the Court through support for delegation and diplomacy, which will play an important part for the delegation of Their Excellencies Constitutional Justices,” he said.
Also read: Going Global, Court Holds Workshop on International Cooperation
Indonesia’s Foreign Policy
In the first session of the second day of the workshop, the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s Director for Legal Affairs and Political and Security Treaties Purnomo Achmad Chandra and Director for American and European Intra- and Inter-regional Cooperation Nidya Kartikasari talked about Indonesia Foreign Policy Outlook 2023 and Potential International Cooperation for the Constitutional Court.
Purnomo Achmad Chandra, who goes by the nickname Pungki, explained that the Court could target international cooperation following the United Nation’s (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), such as point 16—peace, justice, and strong institutions.
“SDG 16 promotes peaceful and inclusive society for sustainable development, access to justice for all, and reinforcement of institutions. The Court could use this path and participate in diplomacy on human rights and constitutionalism,” he explained.
He added that the Court had not shown optimum participation to realize that SDG. He said the UN will be organizing the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) 2023 on accelerating recovery from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at all levels in July 17-20 in New York.
“I think constitutional justices can participate in this forum, which is a potential that should be explored. It might be an annual meeting with great impact. A Bangladeshi justice was active [in the forum] and is now well-known. It could be used by the Court for international branding,” he said.
Meanwhile, Director for American and European Intra- and Inter-regional Cooperation Nidya Kartikasari said the Court has an important role to expand cooperation with Latin American and East European countries.
“Because the Court enforces the rule of law over the supreme law of the land, the Constitution,” she said. she also said that the judicial transitions of those countries as new democracies could also expand Indonesia’s experience.
In the second session, Head of Foreign Affairs Ministry’s Education and Training Center Muhammad Kurniadi Koba talked about the basics of diplomacy and negotiation. Next, Director for Middle-Eastern Affairs of the Directorate-General of Asia-Pacific and African Affairs Bagus Hendraning Kobarsih talked about Bilateral, Regional, Multilateral Diplomacy and Indonesia’s Strategic Partners.
In the third session on the evening, Head of the AACC Permanent Secretariat and International Relations Department Sri Handayani talked about the Regulation of the Constitutional Court’s Secretary-General No. 17 of 2020 on Official Foreign Travel while Head of the Public Relations Division Mutia Fria Darsini talked about reporting on official foreign travel.
The four-day workshop, which is taking place on Thursday-Sunday, March 2-5, 2023 in Bekasi, West Java, presents speakers from the Foreign Affair Ministry and the State Secretariat Ministry, who talk about official foreign travel, and from Lembaga Bahasa Internasional of the Faculty of Humanities of Universitas Indonesia (LBI FIB UI), who talk about legal and journalistic translation.
Author : Lulu Anjarsari P.
Editor : Lulu Anjarsari P.
Translator : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)
Translation uploaded on 3/7/2023 11:02 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.
Friday, March 03, 2023 | 22:14 WIB 398