Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra speaking at the orientation to graduates of Andalas University, Friday (9/29/2023) at Unand Auditorium, Padang. Photo by MKRI.

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PADANG (MKRI) — Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra spoke at the orientation of Andalas University (Unand) graduates on Friday, September 29, 2023 at Unand Auditorium, Padang. He explained his struggles to design the future in front of 2,300 graduates, starting with his ambition to study engineering and wandering on the right path in the field of constitutional law. He reflected on his time as a graduate at Unand, recounting his journey until he received a bachelor’s degree in law on March 9, 1995 and graduate summa cum laude with a cumulative GPA of 3.86.

He admitted that in his era, the summa cum laude predicate was quite rare due to lack of standardization on things such as how many A to get of how many courses one could fail at. This contrasts with today where the well-designed assessment system allows many students to gain top grades.

Justice Saldi also shared his journey since elementary school until he graduated school with the highest exam scores in West Sumatra but failed several times taking the college entrance examination. In 1990, at the age of 22, he was successfully enrolled at the Law Faculty of Andalas University. It was not easy for a physics high school student, used to learn calculations, to have to take notes and read various legal theories in university.

“However, efforts show through. In the first semester, I achieved a GPA of 3.71 and in the second semester a perfect 4.00. I got better scores than my friends. I then started focusing and preparing myself for the future. I wanted to become a lecturer and I began with mentoring my classmates. I could become a mentor because I was older than my classmates and had higher scores,” he before Unand Rector Yuliandri.

Dream of Being a Lecturer

Justice Saldi realized that when he entered the university, he was older than his peers, so he was determined not to waste his study time. He was not only focused on his studies, but also on organizational activities. He proved that it succeeding in both of perfectly was more valuable for the future. On March 11, 1995, a day after graduation, he was appointed a lecturer at Bung Hatta University in Padang. His academic career in constitutional law was firmly established. It wasn’t long before he was hired as a lecturer at Unand. He now stands in front of the graduates as a constitutional justice and constitutional law expert.

Justice Saldi wished for the graduates from various majors who would graduate in the coming days to step with certainty into the next stage of their lives. Hopefully, their four-year studies would equip them to compete fiercely with their own excellence.

“This graduation is just an inauguration to the next plan. What must be done by those who today have not yet made a choice is to mentally prepare to lose early in competition with others. Prepare for a tough fight because college is a means to improve our mindset when looking to the future,” he advised.

He also urged the graduates who would compete in the future to remember that university graduates are essentially the same in terms of quality. They must grasp momentums, he said. Their university has prepared them adequately, so they must be patient and continue learning.

Author       : Sri Pujianti
Editor        : Nur R.
Translator  : Nyi Mas Laras Nur Inten Kemalasari/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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