Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra welcoming students of SMAN 1 Padang in the Court, Thursday (5/11/2023). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — Students of public senior high school SMAN 1 Padang, West Sumatera Province were welcomed by the Constitutional Court’s (MK) Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra on Thursday, May 11, 2023 in the eleventh floor meeting room. The deputy chief justice was accompanied by expert assistant to constitutional justice Abdul Ghoffar Husnan.

He said that their high school major would not be the most important. What is important would be studying according to the major they had chosen.

“In senior high school, I took the A1 or physics major. I wanted to study at [Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB)] but I did not pass the entrance test,” he revealed.

Justice Saldi believes that no matter what major, studying as best as one could is most important. Students of the social major should not feel inferior. “Our journey is not determined by three years in senior high school or the university. It is determined by a long path. That’s why, one thing I should remind you is that the willingness to master a language is important,” he said.

He hoped the students would study well and achieve good results. 

Constitutional Court in Administration

Expert assistant to constitutional justice Abdul Ghoffar Husnan explained the judicial power before and after the amendment to the 1945 Constitution. Before the amendment, he said, the judicial power is exercised by a supreme court and judicial institution based on the Constitution.

Meanwhile, after the amendment, the judicial power is an independent power to implement the judiciary to enforce law and justice. It is exercised by a supreme court and courts under it within a general judicature, religious court, military court, state administration court, and by a constitutional court and other institutions whose functions relating to the judicial power is regulated in statutory laws.

Ghoffar also explained that democracy is a government whose citizens have equal rights to make decisions that could change their lives. Democracy allows citizens to participate directly or through representation in the formulation, development, and drafting of the law.

Ghoffar also explained that democracy includes social, economic, customary, and cultural conditions that allow for the free and equal practice of political freedom. He also said that democracy is also a set of ideas and principles about freedom along with its practices and procedures.

During the Q&A session, a student named Panji asked about the democracy that Indonesians want. In response, Ghoffar said that etymologically, democracy came from the Greek word demos (people) and kratos (rule).

He then explained that before the 1998 Reform, the 1945 Constitution had been the supreme law of the land and the sovereignty had been given to the MPR (People’s Consultative Assembly) as the highest state institution. The MPR then distributed power to five equal-position high state institutions: the Supreme Court (MA), the President, the House of Representatives (DPR), the Supreme Advisory Council (DPA), and the Audit Board (BPK). However, after the amendment, the MPR is no longer the highest state institution, but is equal to other state institutions.

Author       : Bayu Wicaksono
Editor        : Nur R.
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 version, the Indonesian version will prevail.

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