SEMARANG – The decision of the Constitutional Court (MK) should be a solution capable of reducing public unrest. If the Constitutional Court’s decision creates anxiety, it is best to be reviewed, said the Dean of the Faculty of Law UNDIP, Prof. Dr. Retno Saraswati SH MHum at the National Seminar on “Improving the Quality of the Constitutional Court Decisions” which was held virtually, Friday (11/9/2020).
Another indicator that must be fulfilled is that decisions must reflect the true value of the legal basis. The Constitutional Court decision must contain a sense of justice, did not cause controversy or cause anxiety. Decisions also needs to contain a certainty and can be executed as these decisions must be obeyed by all state administrators and society. “Do not form a confusing law, as it will be difficult to implement,” said Prof. Retno Saraswati.
According to her, in order to actualize them, the Constitutional Court judges must devote all their knowledge to be applied for the benefit of society. She admitted that efforts to achieve justice for all the people were very difficult as in formulating justice, it cannot be view only from a legal perspective, but also be viewed from the social and moral justice.
“Not only the norms that are processed but also how to bring about justice for morality. The three of them must simultaneously be realized, there must be in the decision. For this reason, the quality of judges’ decisions internally is determined by professionalism and religion. As for externally, there is a code of ethics and a supervisory board that continues to monitor, ” she said.
The seminar which was held to commemorate the 17th anniversary of the Constitutional Court also presented other speakers, namely Prof. Dr. Arief Hidayat SH MHum (MK Judge), Prof. Dr. Martitah SH MHum (Professor of Law Faculty of Unnes), Prof. Dr. Aidul Fitriciada Azhari SH MHum (Member of the Judicial Commission) as well as Dr. Umbu Rauta SH MHum (UKSW’s Law Faculty Professor). MK, which was first established on August 13, 17 years ago, has experienced dynamics in its journey. There are times when the Constitutional Court is highly praised like a hero of the constitution, on the other hand the Constitutional Court has also fallen to its lowest point.
A member of the Judicial Commission, Prof. Dr. Aidul Fitriciada Azhari SH MHum, agrees with Prof. Retno Saraswati that the quality of judges’ decisions apart from being professional must also be religious. Guided by what is good according to the teachings of God, this will guide the judge in every decision taken.
“The important point is that a judge’s decision must be accountable not only to the public but also to God. For this reason, judges must have competence and integrity, competence to speak broad knowledge of their intellectuality and abilities, while integrity comes from conviction, firmness and morals,” said Aidul Fitriciada, who was also the Chairman of KY in 2016-2018.
Regarding in improving the quality of judges’ decisions, he added, the principles that must be adhered is to reflect the independence of the judiciary, both personally and institutionally. This is very much needed in decision making, but it must be noted that the independence of the judiciary is not absolute.
“A judge must be able to grasp and be sensitive to the values that live in society in order to produce sociological justice. From that, the independence of the judiciary must be upheld, impartiality, there is divine morality that will bear moral justice, and impartiality that will later bear legal justice,” said Arief who is also a professor at the Faculty of Law UNDIP.
The Constitutional Court Judge, Prof. Dr. Arief Hidayat, said that the Constitutional Court judges should not have a flow that is separated from the Pancasila legal system. Indeed, the legal system must keep being developed. Therefore, the Constitutional Court judges must protect the laws produced by the law-forming institutions.
Arief, who served as Chairman of the Constitutional Court for the 2015-2017 period, said that the duties of the Constitutional Court judges must be to maintain consistency, coherence and correspondence, the Law with the 1945 Constitution and Pancasila as the foundation of the nation’s ideology. “For this reason, a quality decision does not have to satisfy all parties, as people have different ideals. Quality decisions must be based on the 1945 Constitution and Pancasila. If it satisfies a certain group but it is against the ideology of the nation, it must be firmly rejected, to bring people back to the ideology of the nation,” he said.