Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra conveying a keynote speech and opening the Constitution Olympiad of the Constitutional Court, a collaborative event with the Law Faculty of Andalas University, Sunday (11/5/2023). Photo by MKRI/Ilham W.M.

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PADANG (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) in collaboration with the Law Faculty of Andalas University held a Constitution Olympiad on Sunday, November 5, 2023 at the faculty’s multipurpose hall in Padang, West Sumatra Province. The event was officially opened by Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra. In his remarks, he said that the Olympiad was a breakthrough to find other opportunities beyond the mandatory courses for high school students. “[I] hope that this event will be one of the ways to explore the potential of our high school students in order to enter university,” he said.

He believes that finding out about one’s potential cannot only be done through studies, but also through non-academic achievements. He illustrated how Harvard University also finds talents through non-academic achievements.

The Olympiad consisted of two categories: academic writing competition (LKTI) for high school teachers and constitution debate competition for high school students. The winners of academic writing competition will have the opportunity to publish their papers in the Court’s journal Jurnal Konstitusi, which has been indexed by SINTA 1. The winners of the debate competition will get the opportunity to enter Andalas University without an entrance test.

Moreover, Justice Saldi emphasized that the Court never gets tired of encouraging universities, schools, and observers to participate in the session on the publication of the Court’s annual report and the opening of its first hearing of the year. This forum aims to hear criticism and suggestions from the public towards the Court. The Court hopes that by listening to public opinion, it can continue to improve and become a better institution.

Previously, in his report, Secretary-General Heru Setiawan had said that the Constitution Week had been running for a long time and this time Andalas University agreed to carry it out in the form of an Olympiad. He revealed the history of the competition. Before Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra became a constitutional justice, he was the first to offer a more defined concept of the competition as it is currently organized.  He understood how to educate the public and disseminate constitutional values through competitions.

Heru reported that the Constitution Olympiad was organized by combining two activities that the Court had routinely carried out: the Constitution Week and moot court competitions. A number of competitions were also held, such as quizzes, academic writing competitions, English speech competitions, and seminars.

Rector of Andalas University (Unand), Yuliandri, said that since the Constitutional Court was established, Unand continued to cooperate in realizing constitutional education. “This is in line with what we want,” he said.

This event was a positive step from the Constitutional Court to improve constitutional literacy among the younger generation. It served to introduce constitutional values to the younger generation and encourage them to be more active in the life of the nation and state. It was expected to be a starting point to improve constitutional literacy in Indonesia. With increased constitutional literacy, the younger generation will have a better understanding of their rights and obligations as citizens.

Author       : Ilham W.M.
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
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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