Graduate law students of Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) welcomed by assistant to constitutional justice Nallom Kurniawan during their practical field work, Wednesday (5/17/2023). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

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JAKARTA, (MKRI) — Forty-one graduate law students of Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) visited the Constitutional Court (MK) on Wednesday, May 17, 2023 for their practical field work (KKL). They were welcomed by Head of the Public Relations and National Affairs Department Fajar Laksono and assistant to constitutional justice Nallom Kurniawan. Sapto Hermawan and Muhammad Yamin accompanied the students.

In his remarks, Fajar said that the Court would be twenty years old this year. “Only twenty years old. Institutionally, the Court is relatively young. However, for twenty years the Court has determined and influenced the developments of law, democracy, and politics, which normatively refer to the Constitution,” he said.

He further explained that the Court through its decisions on judicial review (PUU), authority disputes between state institutions (SKLN), and general and regional election results disputes guard democracy. Democracy that is practiced in Indonesia is based on the Constitution, which encapsulates Pancasila values.

Fajar hoped that the visit to the Court would prove beneficial to the students. “Hopefully it is more than just a field trip. I believe the Constitutional Court is an epicenter of knowledge, especially in law. The Court have many master’s graduates and doctors in not only law but also other disciplines,” he said.

Next, Muhammad Yamin said that there are classes in UNS that are not included in the curriculum, such as KKL. However, KKL is mandatory.

“This is part of the effort to connect theories and practice. [UNS] often discuss law, but [students] need to see law, as well as democracy, in practice. We are honored to be welcomed by the Constitutional Court. We can discuss what the Court does according to its duties and authority,” he said.

In his presentation, Nallom Kurniawan said the Court has highly strategic authority. There are many aspects to the Constitution. The Preamble to the 1945 Constitution mandates promoting welfare. “When we talk about welfare, it correlates with economic affairs. So, how does it overlap with the Court’s authority?”

He said that today there is global recession, which poses challenges to all state governments. The government manage state economy through policies and legal products, i.e. laws.

When laws are not formulated well, Nallom added, the Constitutional Court steps in to review laws that are in violation of the Constitution. “When constitutional rights are harmed, the citizens have legal standing to challenge the policies, whether they have followed the Constitution or not,” he explained.

He further talked about the amendment to the 1945 Constitution, especially a chapter on human rights. Constitutional Court decisions may refer to those articles on human rights as touchstones in its judicial review cases.

Since the beginning, the Constitutional Court has landmark decisions that contributed to the development of welfare and the protection of the citizens’ economic rights. “The Constitutional Court once annulled the Electricity Law in order to protect citizens from liberal economic competitions,” Nallom added.

Author       : Utami Argawati
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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