Expert assistant to constitutional justice Merry Christian Putri speaking to Pancasila and Civic Education students and lecturers of Universitas PGRI Wiranegara of Pasuruan, Tuesday (6/13/2023). Photo by MKRI/Ilham W.M.
JAKARTA (MKRI) — Students of Pancasila and Civic Education (PPKn) of the Faculty of Pedagogy and Educational Psychology of Universitas PGRI Wiranegara (Uniwara), Pasuruan, East Java Province visited the Constitutional Court’s (MK) on Tuesday, June 13, 2023. They were welcome by expert assistant to constitutional justice Merry Christian Putri at the hall of the Court’s second building.
In her presentation, Merry said the Constitution must be able to regulate how state organs work as well as its authorities, to insure no abuse of authority. She said, quoting Sri Soemantri, that there must be at least three aspects in the Constitution: the protection of human rights and the citizens’ constitutional rights, the fundamental constitutional structure, and fundamental separation and limitation of powers.
According to the 1945 Constitution, Indonesia is a democracy and a state of law, where sovereignty is vested in the people and exercised according to the Constitution. After the amendment of the Constitution, there is no longer a supreme state institution, now all state institutions have equal positions based on their functions, and it is ensured that there is no overlap.
Merry also said, based on the 1945 Constitution, the Constitutional Court serves as the guardian of state ideology and the Constitution, the final interpreter of the Constitution, the guardian of democracy, the protector of citizens’ constitutional rights, and the protector of human rights. The Constitutional Court has difference jurisdiction with the Supreme Court (MA), where the Constitutional Court has the authority to review laws against the Constitution, while the Supreme Court reviews laws and regulations under laws against laws.
The Constitutional Court also has authority to decide authority disputes over state institutions whose authority is granted by the Constitution, to decide the dissolution of political parties, to decide disputes over general election results. It must also decide the opinion of the House of Representatives (DPR) on alleged violated of the Constitution by the president and/or vice president. In addition to the authority granted by the 1945 Constitution, the Constitutional Court also has an additional authority to decide disputes over the results of regional election (pilkada).
Next, Merry discussed the main principles in exercising of the Court’s authority: presumption of constitutionality of laws, which is similar to the presumption of innocence in criminal cases. Therefore, in constitutional justices must assess whether a law constitutional until it is proven in court to be constitutional or unconstitutional.
Merry emphasized that the Constitutional Court’s decisions are final and binding on all citizens. Even though a petition to review a law is filed by a citizen, the decision applies to all citizens because the Constitutional Court’s decision is equal to the law and is an interpretation of the Constitution.
The next principle is that the same norm cannot be petitioned again unless using different touchstones and arguments.
Next, in examining a case, the Court listens to all parties. It provides an opportunity to the parties to express their views. The legislatures are given the opportunity to submit a testimony related to the background of the formation of the norm in question. The parties—petitioners, the legislatures, relevant parties who have an interest in the norm—can present experts and witnesses to support their arguments.
Petitioners do not have to file a petition to the Constitutional Court in person. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Court opened online access to justice for the parties in order to achieve its vision to be a modern and trusted judicial institution. As such, it built a system so that the public can easily access the Court.
Merry also explained the composition of the constitutional justices. The House, the president, and the Supreme Court each proposes three justice candidates. Each has its own selection mechanism. So, the Constitutional Court does not have the authority or the right to determine its constitutional justices. The appointment of constitutional justices from the three state institutions, which represent three branches of state power—legislative, executive, and judicial—does not mean that they necessarily carry the views of the institutions who propose them. In fact, each constitutional justice might have their own opinions and cannot intervene with each other.
Author : Ilham W.M.
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 versions, the Indonesian version will prevail.
Tuesday, June 13, 2023 | 15:25 WIB 202