Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat speaking at a national seminar organized by the Constitutional Court and Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta, Saturday (7/8/2023). Photo by Humas MK/Agung S.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat spoke about the role of the Constitutional Court as the guardian of the Pancasila ideology in front of participants of a national seminar, which was held in collaboration between the Constitutional Court and Surakarta Muhammadiyah University (UMS) on Saturday, July 8, 2023 at the Siti Walidah main building. This seminar was moderated by Labib Muttaqin, law lecturer of UMS. Justice Arief reminded the undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral students to understand the essence of law based on the One Supreme God enshrined in legal norms in Indonesia.

He stated that the law in Indonesia is actually based on the belief in One Supreme God, not based on the principle of one religion alone, but various beliefs that exist in society. He stated more clearly that, in simple terms, the law only contains two things, making laws and enforcing or implementing them by believing in One Supreme God,

“However, unfortunately, this is still not comprehended well, so the implementation of law in Indonesia is still chaotic, even though when making the law there is a heading ‘by the grace of God Almighty’ and this is an extraordinary mandate. This is what is less realized by lawmakers. Let’s take a look at the 1945 Constitution, laws, and even the rector’s decisions,” he said before chairperson of the Judicial Commission for 2016-2018 Aidul Fitriciada Azhari, who has also been a law lecturer at UMS since 1993.

Implementation of Law Enforcement

Justice Arief also said that justice is also based on the belief in One Supreme God. Therefore, the Constitutional Court as a judicial institution must implement the ideology and foundation of the Republic of Indonesia in its decisions.

Since its inception, he said, the Court, whose core business is to uphold justice for the constitutional rights of citizens, has continued to strive to implement Pancasila. One manifestation of this is the establishment of the Pancasila and Constitution Education Center in Cisarua, Bogor. Thus, the Constitutional Court not only actualizes Pancasila through its decisions but also through activities outside of it.

In line with the Constitutional Court’s efforts, he called on all law experts to understand more concretely that the law in Indonesia must be characterized by Pancasila and that the law implemented in Indonesia has its own characteristics that is guided by the ideology and foundation of the state. Meanwhile, legal theories in the world, in his view, are sufficient to serve as references for comparison because, he stressed, implementing Indonesian law means embodying the characters of Pancasila.

Author       : Sri Pujianti
Editor        : Nur R.
Translator  : Tahlitha Laela/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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