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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) held an annual global academic forum to discuss ideas in constitutional law through the 6th Indonesian Constitutional Court International Symposium (ICCIS) on “Constitutional Court and Judicial Independence: A Comparative Perspective” on Thursday, August 10, 2023 in Jakarta. Researchers, academics and legal practitioners from various country will be discussing various perspectives on the efforts to strengthen and protect judicial independence, the main foundation of the rule of law and democracy.

In his opening remarks, Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra said that for two decades, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia has made a significant contribution in safeguarding the Constitution, the citizens’ constitutional rights, and democracy. However, its twentieth anniversary must be a moment to review judicial independence. In this international discussion forum, he added, participants can review or evaluate best practices on judicial independence in their respective countries. He hoped the forum would help find ways to face the complexities and challenges in maintaining independent judiciary amidst various legal systems.

Challenges to Judicial Independence

Deputy Chief Justice Saldi said that current and future challenges of the judiciary include the revision of laws on the judiciary, the professionalism of supporting staff, budget and finances, and efforts by other institutions to weaken judicial independence or at least reduce the judiciary’s role. He also expressed hope that the forum would focus on the independence of the constitutional court in developing and established democracies. He also mentioned the Constitutional Court’s special challenges of protecting free and fair elections and maintaining public trust in the institution.

“The next problem relates to the independence of constitutional justices in making decisions. This is crucial, since having independent legal arguments when deciding a case will keep the justices from pressure from outside parties. Furthermore, the global threat to the judiciary posed by populist movements such as advocating changes to regulations, expanding court authority, and erosion of court independence should also be part of in-depth discussions in this forum,” he said.

Protection from Political and Economic Interventions

Meanwhile, in his presentation, Jimly Asshiddiqie (former Constitutional Justice of 2003-2008) urged the participants to understand the value and implementation of democracy. He asserted that all democracies position freedom and equality of the majority voters of an election as the determinant in decision-making in society. However, the most important thing that must be understood about the majority vote is that it is not always synonymous with truth and justice, especially of the Constitution. Political compromises between members of the majority vote can give way to violation of the rights of minorities. So, there is no doubt that there have been decisions that violate the human rights of minority groups and violate the Constitution, which is the main source of norms in social life. Therefore, he added, majority democracy reflected in the government needs to be balanced with legal principles embodied in juridical institutions in order to control democracy that only relies on majority votes. This is because quality democracy must reflect substantive principles that combine the majority and minority in a balanced manner.

“Every democracy needs to build a reliable judicial system, and the officials who manage the country must obey what the judiciary has decided. This is to safeguard the interests of the people, who should not be betrayed. This is why the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court as judicial institutions in Indonesia exist to protect against political and economic interventions, both in the cases they handle as well as the in the independence of the judges and institutions,” Jimly explained.

Enthusiastic Participants

In his report, head of the Center for Research, Case Study, and Library Management Pan Mohamad Faiz said that this international discussion and presentations were attended by around 700 online participants who were not only from Indonesia but also from other countries. The symposium will be broadcasted live for the next two days. “Select articles from the 6th ICCIS will be published in the Constitutional Court journal Constitutional Review, which has been indexed by Scopus and managed by the Center for Research, Case Study, and Library Management,” he said.

Independence and Professionalism

Starting the discussion in Session 1, moderated by M. Ali Safa’at from the Law Faculty of Brawijaya University, were Senior Associate Justice Marvic Mario Victor Famorca Leonen of Supreme Court of the Philippines with a presentation on “Philippine Constitutional Adjudication: Balancing Fundamental Liberties and Government Powers;” followed by Tim Lindsey, professor of Asian Law at Melbourne Law School, Australia with a presentation on “Approaches to Judicial Independence in Australia and Indonesia: A Comparison;” and Sang-Hyeon Jeon from the Seoul National University School of Law, Korea with a presentation on “The Composition of the Constitutional Court and Judicial Independence: Focusing on Experiences in Korea.” Several responders provided their views on the presentations.

In his presentation, Sang-Hyeon Jeon stated that the Constitutional Court is important to a constitutional democracy. The legitimacy of democracy must be guaranteed, and the independence and professionalism of the Constitutional Court must also meet several criteria. For example, he revealed that the Korean Constitution entrusts the composition of the Constitutional Court to the President, the National Assembly, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He admitted that although the Constitutional Court has contributed decisively to the establishment of constitutional democracy in Korea, there have been criticisms regarding the composition of the Court in terms of institution and practice.

“Actually, there are many problems that can be raised in terms of theory and practice but most of the problems require amendments to the Constitution. The founders of the current Constitution actually paid enough attention to the establishment of constitutional democracy through the Constitutional Court, but at the same time they also failed to pay attention to how the Court should be organized,” Jeon said, describing some of the dynamics of the independence and professionalism of the constitutional judiciary in the Republic of Korea.

The symposium will run for two days—Thursday to Friday, August 10 – 11, 2023—which nearing the 20th anniversary of the Constitutional Court on August 13. At the 6th ICCIS, the Court invited researchers, academics, and legal practitioners to discuss various perspectives on the importance of the judicial independence, especially of the Constitutional Court. The subthemes are independence of the Constitutional Court in the democracy era; the independence of constitutional judges in the decision-making process; threats to judicial independence posed by populist movements; the Constitutional Court’s budget and financial independence; and the Constitutional Court’s performance and independence of judicial staff.

Author       : Sri Pujianti
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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