AACC SRD Secretariat Delegation Deputy Director Kim Hyungsoo and Assistant Director Kim Ilhoo holding a bilateral meeting with the Court as the AACC Permanent Secretariat, Wednesday (11/6/2024). Photo by MKRI/Bayu

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JAKARTA, MKRI - Delegation of the Permanent Secretariat of the Association of Constitutional Courts and Similar Institutions in Asia for Research and Development or The Association of Asian Constitutional Courts for Research and Development (AACC SRD) held a bilateral meeting with the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia (MKRI) as the Permanent Secretariat AACC on Wednesday (11/6/2024). The AACC SRD Secretariat, which is based in Seoul, South Korea, is handled by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Korea.

The AACC SRD Secretariat delegation who visited the MKRI for the first time were Deputy Director Kim Hyungsoo and Assistant Director Kim Ilhoo. Both of them had the opportunity to have a brief discussion with the Secretary General of the MKRI who is also the Head of the AACC Secretariat for Planning and Coordination, Heru Setiawan.

Heru even called MK Korea "Brother". How could it not be, Indonesia together with South Korea were the main motors driving the formation of the AACC. AACC was officially formed in July 2010 through the "Jakarta Declaration" which was signed by the seven founding countries, namely Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Thailand and Uzbekistan.

Heru said that universal values ​​that apply in most countries can be used as a reference for examining and adjudicating a case. Indeed, constitutional justices in their advice often advise the Petitioner to be able to outline comparisons with other countries on issues related to the norms of the articles being reviewed.

The AACC SRD delegation also revealed the background of coming to Indonesia to integrate the same goal. It is hoped that exchanging ideas can open wider horizons. They also asked the MKRI to explain its authority to decide disputes regarding general election results.

The discussion continued with the Head of the AACC Permanent Secretariat and Foreign Cooperation Division, Immanuel Bungkulan Binsar Hutasoit, Head of the AACC Permanent Secretariat Subdivision, R.A Indah Apriyanti, Head of the Foreign Cooperation Subdivision, Hasri Puspita Ainun, International Relations Analyst, Rizky Kurnia Chaesario, Bilateral and Regional Cooperation Analyst, Yuanna Sisilia, as well as Interpreter Fuad Subhan. They engaged in intense discussions regarding areas for potential cooperation, information exchange, and technology, focusing on legal issues surrounding technology, including data privacy, digital information protection, AI, and the utility of technology to increase  access to justice.

MKRI explained that since its founding in 2010, AACC has never managed its organization's finances independently. Regarding members' financial contributions, this was actually discussed at the 2015 Secretary General Meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia and at the 2016 Member Council Meeting in Bali, Indonesia.

Some AACC members called for starting to think about the organization's finances. However, there has been no agreement or concrete follow-up to the discussion. If we refer to the AACC Statute Article 23 paragraph 1, it is stated that: "The general costs of organizing meetings of the Member Council and Congress as well as other events including symposiums, workshops and seminars are financed mainly by equal contributions from members. However, the contribution portion can be managed depending on the capabilities of each member as decided by the Member Council.”

At the 6th AACC Congress in Bangkok-Thailand, the AACC SPC received a mandate from the AACC President during the Council of Ministers Meeting (BoMM) to learn the implementation of financial contributions among AACC members. AACC SPC Focuses on collecting detailed information from each AACC member regarding procedures for managing financial contributions and the administrative processes required to establish contributions.(*)

Author         : Mimi Kartika 
Editor          : Lulu Anjarsari P.
Translator     : Donny Yuniarto (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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