Constitutional Justice Suhartoyo speaking at the second session of an international symposium by the Constitutional Court of Thailand, Monday (4/10/2023). Photo by MKRI.

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BANGKOK (MKRI) — In the second session of an international symposium by the Constitutional Court of Thailand in Bangkok, Constitutional Justice Suhartoyo delivered a presentation on “The Role of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia in Guaranteeing Citizens’ Constitutional Rights and Freedoms” on Monday, April 10, 2023. He said that the MKRI’s establishment was based on the third amendment to the 1945 Constitution in the Reform era. The MKRI’s authority as one of the judicial institutions was then adopted in Article 24 paragraph (2) and Article 24C of the 1945 Constitution.

Justice Suhartoyo also said that freedom of opinion and expression is one of the essential criteria in a democracy. The realization of democratic values can be seen from the guarantee of protection for freedom of assembly, expression, and freedom to conduct open discussions. The Constitution and various laws and regulations in Indonesia are in line with the protection of the rights to opinion, expression, and religion. These regulations are in line with the universal protection of freedom and human rights as stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and various international conventions on the protection of human rights that have been ratified into national laws.

Justice Suhartoyo also talked about the protection of citizens’ constitutional rights related to freedom of opinion and expression in the Constitutional Court Decisions No. 36/PUU-XX/2022, No. 76/PUU-XV/2017, No. 5/PUU-VIII/2010, and No. 50/PUU-VI/2008. These decisions provide a real and concrete illustration of how the Court maintains constitution values to ensure the protection of those rights. The Court believes legal arrangements and restrictions are not limited to the real world but also people’s behavior in cyberspace. Regulations and restrictions by the law are stipulated because every person has obligations to society and in the exercise of rights and powers every person can only be limited by law, which serves solely to ensure proper recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others. The Court is faced with two legal interests between protecting freedom of speech, expression of opinions orally and in writing, and freedom of communication and obtaining information as constitutional rights, dealing with the basic rights of protection of the dignity and reputation of others.

In Decision No. 97/PUU-XIV/2016, the Court recognized faiths outside of the state-recognized religions by allowing citizens to keep the religion column in their resident ID cards and family cards blank. The decision marked a landmark guarantee of religious right for citizens.

President of the Constitutional Court of Korea Yoo Nam Seok and the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court of Mongolia Chinbat Namjil also expressed their respective country’s perspectives of the guarantee of constitutional rights and freedoms. Legal officers from the Constitutional Court of Thailand, delegations of the Constitutional Court of Korea, the Constitutional Court of Mongolia, and the Constitutional Court of Austria, as well as academics from several university in Thailand attended the symposium. The participants also listened to presentations by Thai constitutional law experts Punya Udchachon, Jaran Pukditanakul, Borwornsak Uwanno, and Banjerd Singkaneti. President of the Constitutional Court of Thailand Worawit Kangsasitiam gave closing remarks that marked the end of the symposium, which celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Constitutional Court of Thailand.

Author       : Merry C.P.
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

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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