Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra and Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat at a national workshop on 2024 election results disputes settlement at the hall of Kudus Regency, Friday (9/15/2023). Photo by MKRI/Panji.

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KUDUS (MKRI) — Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra and Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat attended a national workshop on “The Constitutional Court and the Challenges of Resolving 2024 Election Results Disputes” at the hall of Kudus Regency, Central Java Province on Friday, September 15, 2023. The workshop was held in collaboration between the Court and the Government of Kudus Regency. Secretary-General Heru Setiawan, Kudus regent Hartopo, and House of Representatives (DPR) Commission IX member Mustofa attended the event.

Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat began his presentation by discussing the state basis and philosophy. He compared world changes to a military term from the 1990s VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity), which describe how a change in society moves quickly and complexly. Human life is increasingly full of ambiguous realities, requires flexibility and wisdom to overcome challenges. The issue of state life is also the same, full of various disturbances that must be overcome. Therefore, he added, guidelines for state life is needed. This is Pancasila and the Constitution.

“We can all see today where everything utilizes artificial intelligence (AI), but human ability and intelligence cannot be replaced with it. Therefore, to anticipate Society 5.0, humans must improve their ability to solve complex problems, think, and act critically and seek solution, always be creative, synergize, and collaborate in many fields and sectors,” Justice Arief said.

He also talked about the upcoming political year of 2024. Ahead of it, politics, the election, election candidates, and the Constitutional Court will be heavily discussed in the news and there will be a lot of information circulating.

“Therefore, the intelligence to filter hoaxes by strengthening literacy and good and true narratives is the duty of all Indonesian people, including the participants of this national workshop. Let us create narratives that contain information that educates and builds excitement for the democratic festival. Don’t spread meaningless information that divides our nation’s unity,” he urged.

Resolving Political Issues through Legal Means

In response to Justice Arief Hidayat’s presentation, Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra continued by discussing technical matters in resolving disputes over general election results. He would focus on the discussion of the Constitutional Court’s efforts ahead of the 2024 political year. He believed Indonesian politicians participating in the presidential and legislative election will come to the Constitutional Court to argue the results certified by the KPU (General Elections Commission).

“This is how we solve political problems through legal channels. Please note, Indonesia is actually a country that is much more established in resolving its election problems than the master of democracy (the United States). Their awareness of accepting election results is not like Indonesian citizens. If [the election results is challenged] in the Constitutional Court and the Constitutional Court decides, [the decision] will be accepted peacefully, although not all are satisfied with the decision. The vulnerable thing in Indonesia is our political actors, some of whom are not ready to accept loss, even though winning is only one of the ways to take part in the state,” Justice Saldi said.

He said that one of the Court’s efforts to face the 2024 political year was to hold workshops on the Constitutional Court’s procedural law for administrators and members of national political parties participating in the election, local political parties in Aceh, and even to election organizers such as the KPU and Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body). He reminded everyone that elections are only a tool, which should not damage life in the state. He added that litigating in the Constitutional Court is also a means to do politics, law, and state in accordance with the truth.

Maintaining Democracy

A participant named Sururi asked Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra and Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat about the efforts to educate the public about the value of democracy, which he believed political parties had failed to do given the frequency of vote buying.

Answering the question, Deputy Chief Justice Saldi emphasized the community should have a filter, meaning that they must have the courage to reject such gratuity.

“Everyone is responsible for maintaining democracy, not only political parties or the Constitutional Court, but also the community. At some point a balance will be found. I imagine one day political parties will have a clear political stance and I believe that in time political parties will reach this consciousness. We have to do it slowly because we are in the post-truth period. So, let’s grow community-based organizations as a way to overcome political disturbances that damage the value of democracy,” he answered.

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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