Constitutional Justice Arsul Sani explaining the differences between procedural law at MK and Supreme Court to FH Unwahas Semarang student, Monday (11/25/2024). Photo by MKRI/Ilham W.M.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) —The Constitutional Court (MK) welcomed a visit of 90 students from the Faculty of Law, Wahid Hasyim University (FH Unwahas) Semarang, on Monday, November 25, 2024. The students were received directly by Constitutional Justice Arsul Sani.

Justice Arsul explained the differences between procedural law at the MK and the Supreme Court (MA). At the Constitutional Court procedural law the legal representative doesn’t have to be an advocate, but rather anyone who receives the power of attorney. The Court chose this policy to provide easy access to justice as widely as possible for justice seekers. This does not only apply in cases of judicial review (UU), but also in other cases including disputes over general election results (PHPU), including Regional Head PHPU.

However, continued Justice Arsul, it would be good for someone who is a legal representative to understand the Constitutional Court's procedural law and understand the norms being reviewed. "Actually, if you want to train to become an advocate, it's easiest at the Constitutional Court," said Justice Arsul.

Justice Arsul said that currently many students are filing petitions to the Court. "But of course it's not just a practice," explained Justice Arsul.

Justice Arsul further explained that a law is a legal product but the process is a political process so it is heavily colored by political views so there needs to be an institution that can assess a law from a legal perspective. Justice Arsul revealed that he had been involved in discussions on the Criminal Code when he was a member of the legislature. He admitted that in the law formation process, legislative members were heavily influenced by Western law because their education was mostly influenced by Western legal education. However, Indonesia has differences with the Western legal system. Therefore, he always tries to place himself in the middle position.

Answering questions from visiting participants regarding the review of international agreements, Justice Arsul said that as long as the agreement had been ratified into law, a judicial review could be filed to the Court. Justice Arsul gave the example of the review of the Narcotics Law few months ago which was also linked to the ratification of international agreements.

Previously, the Deputy Registrar II of the Court, Wiryanto, in his presentation revealed that many petitions for judicial review of regulations under the Law submitted to the Court were covered by judicial review. In addition, Wiryanto explained the reasons why the Judicial Commission did not supervise the Constitutional Court. According to him, the history of the amendments to the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia which was later included in the Constitutional Court's decision, by construction the Judicial Commission (KY) was designed to supervise the Supreme Court. Therefore, the mention of KY in the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia is mentioned after the norms governing the Supreme Court, and before the norms governing the Constitutional Court.

Meanwhile, Expert Assistant to Constitutional Justice, Aditya Yuniarti, in her presentation explained the authority of the Constitutional Court. In addition, we talk about the composition of nine Constitutional Justices who were proposed by three each by the People's Representative Council (DPR), the President and the Supreme Court (MA) as a manifestation of the three branches of state power, legislative, executive and judicative.

After gaining knowledge about law and the constitution, students had the opportunity to follow the hearing directly from the MK plenary court room. Then, the students were invited to tour the Constitution History Center (Puskon) which is located on the 5th and 6th Floors of the MK Building. Puskon presents the history of the constitution in Indonesia and the history of the formation of the Constitutional Court in Indonesia with an interesting and modern display. Since its inauguration, Puskon MK has often received visits from various agencies and various groups of society. Puskon MK is open to the public and all visitors for free of charge.

Author         : Ilham Wiryadi Muhammad
Editor          : N. Rosi
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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