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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia (MKRI) attended an international symposium and Board of Members Meeting (BoMM) that are part of the fifth congress of the Association of Asian Constitutional Courts and Equivalent Institutions (AACC). Chief Justice Anwar Usman, Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra, and Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat attended the congress virtually from the MKRI’s main building on Monday, June 5, 2023. The virtual event was organized by the Constitutional Court of Mongolia in Ulaanbaatar. The AACC members from South Korea, Turkey, Thailand, and Malaysia, and other countries also attended the event. Secretary-General Heru Setiawan and a representative of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs were also in attendance.

The event was opened officially by Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Mongolia Chinbat Namjil, who is also the president of the AACC for 2021–2023. Kairat Mami, Chairman of the Constitutional Council of Kazakhstan and president of the AACC for2019–2021, as well as Zandanshatar Gombojav, Chairman of the State Great Khural (Parliament) of Mongolia, were also in attendance.

The delegations discussed several agendas, including a report by the Constitutional Court of Mongolia on events it organized during its presidency; reports by the Constitutional Courts of Indonesia, Turkey, and Korea as the permanent secretariats of the association of their activities in August 2022 to May 2023; expression of appreciation to the Constitutional Court of Mongolia for its presidency and hope for the Constitutional Court of Thailand as the next president; information on the AACC short course of 2023; and the proposal for the addition of new members.

MKRI’s Remarks

During the Board of Members Meeting (BoMM), Chief Justice Anwar Usman stated that the MKRI and the Permanent Secretariat of the AACC for Planning and Coordination (SPC) would like to express thanks and highest appreciation to the Constitutional Court of Mongolia, especially AACC President Chinbat Namjil, for its two-year presidency from 2021 to 2023. He realized that leading a big organization in the transition period from a pandemic to an endemic toward a new normal is not easy.

“Thank you for good cooperation with the Permanent Secretariat of the AACC for Planning and Coordination, so that many AACC activities such as the fifth AACC congress, the Board of Members Meeting, the Meeting of Secretaries-General, and the joint conference between Asian-African constitutional courts could run smoothly and proved beneficial for all members of the association,” he stressed.

He also expressed hope for the Constitutional Court of Thailand, who will assume presidency for the next two years. “Hopefully all programs planned by the Constitutional Court of Thailand as the next AACC president can run smoothly,” he said.

The chief justice also said that the MKRI is committed to always giving its full support for the implementation of the AACC presidency. As a permanent secretariat, the MKRI always welcome any discussion with open arms.

MKRI’s Planned Activities

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra said that the SPC will hold an AACC international short course for legal officers on August 9-11, 2023 in Jakarta, Indonesia. He explained that the SPC had hosted the short course since 2015 to target employees of the AACC members. Aside from being a medium for improving cooperation, it also serves to improve institutional capacity through the capacity-building of the courts’ employees. This year’s short course will be on “Democracy, Digital Transformation, and Judicial Independence.” For the MKRI, he added, the theme is highly relevant to the constitutional jurisdictions’ independent duty of guarding democracy, especially amid rapid developments of technology.

“I need to say that this year’s short course will be very special, because it coincides with the 20th anniversary of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia. We will prepare a series of balanced activities, both in terms of material and cultural experience, that will be unforgettable for each participant,” he said. He also expressed hope that all courts will send two representatives to the event.

MKRI’s Hopes

Next, Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat said that during a meeting between the AACC members on October 4, 2022 in Bali amidst the fifth congress of the World Conference on Constitutional Justice (WCCJ) that the MKRI hosted, Indonesia’s success is the AACC’s success and that the AACC’s success is Asia’s success. Therefore, he hoped that in the future, other AACC representatives could host the WCCJ as well.

He added that the AACC has a strategic role in a wider global forum, such as in the WCCJ and the joint conference between constitutional jurisdictions throughout Asia (AACC) and Africa (Conference of Constitutional Jurisdictions of Africa/CCJA). As such, this is a great moment for the AACC to expand its membership. He believed that by joining the association, its members had obtained many benefits. For Indonesia, the opportunity to exchange knowledge and experience with other courts in performing duties and authority as an independent, impartial judicial institution was special. He also hoped that all AACC members could actively invite neighboring countries to join the AACC.

SPC’s Report

In his performance report as the head of the Permanent Secretariat of the AACC for Planning and Coordination (SPC), Secretary-General Heru Setiawan said that the AACC had successfully conducted a joint conference between the AACC and the CCJA, which was the starting point of cooperation between the two associations. The MKRI hosted the conference on “Promoting Asian-African Cooperation for the Protection of People’s Fundamental Rights” on October 4, 2022 at the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center, Bali, as part of the WCCJ’s conference. Thirty-nine constitutional jurisdictions affiliated with the AACC and the CCJA attended the conference, which produced a joint statement on the fulfillment of basic human rights and the implementation of the protection of these rights. He also expressed appreciation for the active participation of the constitutional jurisdictions of Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Thailand, South Korea, and Turkey in updating their information and international activities on the internal menu on the AACC’s website.

After conveying the SPC’s work programs in August 2022 to June 2023, Heru also detailed the secretariat’s work programs until June 2024, which includes continuing the process to invite potential new members into the association; initiating membership invitations to the Supreme Courts of Kuwait, Singapore, and Timor Leste; and providing support for the AACC president.

The Association of Asian Constitutional Courts and Equivalent Institutions (AACC) is an Asian regional forum for constitutional justice established in July 2010 to promote the development of democracy, rule of law, and fundamental rights in Asia by increasing the exchanges of information and experiences related to constitutional justice and enhancing cooperation and friendship between institutions exercising constitutional jurisdiction.

It began with an initial talk between several constitutional courts in Asia, including the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia, in September 2005 in Ulanbataar, Mongolia. Participants of the meeting agreed on the establishment of an association of constitutional jurisdiction in Asia and subsequent meetings to discuss it.

In July 12, 2010 in Jakarta, the constitutional review bodies of Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Uzbekistan signed the Jakarta Declaration to mark the establishment of the AACC. These seven constitutional jurisdictions were declared founders of the association.

Author       : Utami Argawati
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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