Constitutional Justice Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh welcoming the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF), Thursday (7/20/2023). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — Seventeen members of the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF) visited the Constitutional Court (MK) on Thursday, July 20, 2023. They were warmly welcomed by Constitutional Justice Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh, who was accompanied by expert assistants to constitutional justices Alboin Pasaribu and Abdul Ghoffar as well as head of the AACC Permanent Secretariat Division R. A. Indah Apriyanti, at one of the Court’s meeting rooms. The members, who came from South Korea, Australia, India, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Africa, were given some details about the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia (MKRI).

Justice Foekh said the Constitutional Court is a constitutional jurisdiction mandated to be the guardian of the Constitution and the state ideology. It has authority to review laws that concern the citizens’ constitutional rights. To this end, the constitutional justices carry out several stages to the proceedings, such as panel hearings, justice deliberation meeting, and plenary examination hearings.

He further explained that to review laws, the Court formed a panel of three constitutional justices to review the petitioner’s case. During the preliminary hearing, they are obligated to provide advice and recommendation for the revision of the petition. Next, the petitioner revises the petition and convey it at the next hearing.

“In order to decide whether a judicial review case continues until the evidentiary hearings or to the ruling hearing, at least seven to nine constitutional justices convene at a justice deliberation meeting (RPH). If at the meeting, a case is approved to continue, the next agenda will be the evidentiary hearings with a schedule that the Court’s Registrar’s Office set,” Justice Foekh explained to the delegation, among which were WSCF secretary-general Marcelo and WSCF Asia secretary-general Yowanda.

Justice Foekh added that the Constitutional Court’s decisions are final and binding to all citizens. He also talked about some of the Court’s landmark decisions that affected the general public, such as one that allowed adherents of indigenous beliefs to put down their beliefs in their resident identity cards (KTP), manifesting equality in law and government and eliminating discrimination on the basis of faith. He also mentioned a decision that determined the education budget at 20% of the state budget (APBN) and another that raised marriageable age for men and women to 19.

During the visit, WSCF Asia secretary-general Yowanda said the visit was part of the federation’s international activity on “Envisioning Ecumenical Youth Advocacy and Solidarity in the 21st Century: Human Rights, Gender Justice, and Leadership Engagement.” She said that her delegation would like to know more about the Constitutional Court’s role and experience in guarding democracy in Indonesia. Her delegation was also interested in visiting the Constitutional Court’s Constitution History Center (Puskon) to learn about the history of the Indonesian Constitution.

The World Student Christian Federation (WSCF) is a global federation that represent and serve Christian students from all over the world. It was established in 1895. This nongovernmental organization, it is in special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (EcoSoc) at the United Nations (UN) and has advisory status to the World Council of Churches (WCC) World Committee. It aims to strengthen unity between Christian students from different church traditions, promote ecumenical cooperation, and encourage active participation in social issues, justice, and peace. Indonesia is the country with the largest Christian student membership in the WSCF through the GMKI (Indonesian Christian Student Movement). Indonesia’s role is even more crucial when in early 2023 Indonesian representatives were elected as regional secretary for WSCF Asia Pacific.

Author       : Sri Pujianti
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

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