Constitutional Court inviting its social media followers, affectionately called courtizens, to sit and relax at second “Ngopi Bareng” event, Friday (8/11/2023). Photo by Humas MK/Fauzan.
JAKARTA (MKRI) — The large number of active social media users in Indonesia in the current digital era has encouraged the Constitutional Court (MK) to reach out to justice seekers and law observers by forming a network that transcends distance and time. For the second time, the Public Relations division of the Public Relations and Protocol Bureau invited the Court’s social media followers, affectionately addressed as courtizens, to sit down and relax at its second-ever informal meetup “Ngopi Bareng Courtizen” (literal translation: “drinking coffee together with courtizens”) on Friday afternoon, August 11, 2023.
Courtizens of the Court’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Tiktok accounts were invited to discuss “The Twentith Anniversary of the Constitutional Court: Public Notes and Expectations” with Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra and program host KompasTV news anchor Cindy Sistyarani. This event was also part of the Court’s celebration of its twentieth anniversary, which falls on August 13, 2023.
From the Court’s front yard while enjoying a cup of black coffee sans sugar, Deputy Chief Justice Saldi shared the Court’s 20-year journey, its joys and sorrows, as well as its dreams for the future. He said the Court must continue holding a dream for justice seekers. As a new institution, he added, it must become a beloved institution by Indonesian citizens. Any criticism leveled to it should be taken as an expression of the citizens’ affection. In contrast, indifference to it would indicate lack of love.
Court’s Two-Decade Journey
On August 13, 2023, the Court will turn twenty. Justice Saldi, who became a constitutional justice on April 11, 2017, talked about performing the duties required of the noble office. It is not easy to be a constitutional justice, who is tasked with resolving and deciding constitutional cases, he said. Those case not only concern the struggle for the constitutional rights by individual citizens, legal entities, customary law groups, and even politicians facing general and regional head elections.
“It is not easy to be Constitutional Court justices, because they must always be in the middle. There are times when the decision is disappointing and there are times when it can please others. [Constitutional justices] can’t make everyone happy. Again, [petitioners] will be happy with a favorable verdict, and the opposite. The most important thing is how the justices build arguments for what they decide. So, courtizens should try to understand the justices’ arguments,” Justice Saldi said.
Asked about challenging issues during his tenure, Justice Saldi talked about the open- and closed-list proportional electoral system. He observed public attention on the issue. He considered it a tad less challenging than the 2019 presidential election dispute case, which attracted a lot of attention and predictions. “It was really a challenging decision for me because many people predicted this and that, even when the justices asked [questions] in the courtroom, there was an assumption that the justices had made their minds. The media had a misperception, when in fact in the courtroom, justices asked questions to explore the case. So, to courtizens concerned about the Constitutional Court, [I’d like to say that] the justices ask questions in the courtroom in order to have enough views to decide the case. So, please wait for the justices’ argument when [the ruling] is pronounced,” the deputy chief justice explained.
Constitutional Awareness
Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra also asserted his view on the Court’s impact on the citizens’ constitutional awareness. He believes the filing of judicial review petitions against allegedly unconstitutional laws by individual petitioners or groups thereof is a mark of the citizens’ constitutional awareness. This is confirmed by the fact that individuals do not file similar petitions repeatedly. Those having the same issues as argued by petitioners in ongoing cases chose to follow Court proceedings closely until the Court makes its ruling, showing their respect for the principle of erga omnes of the Court’s decisions. Regardless of the petitions being granted or not, citizens who have the same interests accept the Court’s decisions.
Justice Saldi also said that constitutional awareness is reflected amid disputes over general and regional head elections. Anyone who does not accept election results and feels cheated has the legal awareness to come to the Constitutional Court and argue their case. Justice Saldi also made a comparison of the settlement of election results disputes in Indonesia in 2019 with that in the United States in 2020.
“In the 2019 General Election in Indonesia, once an election case goes to the Constitutional Court, regardless of the justices’ verdict, the [petitioner] accepts it. On the contrary, in the United States, the [losing] party still indefinitely considers themselves the election’s winner. From this [example], we can see that political actors in Indonesia have a better awareness in resolving election disputes compared to those in the United States. This is because the Constitutional Court [of Indonesia] is the most neutral place to resolve political disputes. At least this is also evidence of how awareness of the state, the Constitution, and the law can solve legal problems in society,” said Justice Saldi with the melodious voice of Ibrani Pandean providing a musical background to the constitutional discussion.
Courtizens Ask, Justice Saldi Answers
While enjoying the afternoon, the Minang justice invited courtizens to ask questions about the Constitutional Court’s two-decade long service for Indonesia. A courtizen from the Kei Islands, Southeast Maluku, asked about the constitutional complaint authority of constitutional court in several other countries. “Will the MKRI also performs this authority in Indonesia?” he asked.
Justice Saldi replied that if the Constitution grants this authority, the Court will exercise it. He mentioned the Constitutional Courts of Korea and Germany, whose 95% of cases are constitutional complaints as citizens have no other means other than the Constitutional Court to resolve various legal cases they experience. He said that, similar to its exercise of the authority over election cases, the Constitutional Court is willing to assume authority related to constitutional complaints. In dealing with disputes over election results, it divides the nine constitutional justices into three panels and assigns them cases outside of their areas of origin, so as to keep them from partisanship and the tendency to favor litigants from their regions.
Court’s Self-Improvement
The Constitutional Court, Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra said, continues to improve so that its decisions can be accepted by all citizens, not because it satisfies many parties but as indication of the Court’s objectivity. He also hoped that the Court would continue to improve in the next 20 years.
“[Hopefully] in the next 20 years, criticisms against the Court in this first 20 years will no longer exist. And on this occasion, I thank courtizens who attend, especially this afternoon, for your concrete support and love for the Constitutional Court. Don’t be afraid to come to the Court and give constructive criticism for the improvement of this institution,” he concluded.
Also read: Court Takes Followers to “Ngopi Bareng” Meetup
In its effort to embrace courtizens, the Constitutional Court has held the event “Ngopi Bareng Courtizen” twice. For the second event, it invited 70 of its social media followers to discuss with Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra. For the first event in Friday, July 22, 2022, it invited 50 followers to a talk with former chief constitutional justice of 2013–2015 Hamdan Zoelva and influencer Tsamara Amany.
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.
Friday, August 11, 2023 | 21:48 WIB 347