No Institution Can Hold Absolute Power, President Jokowi Says
President Jokowi is in a group photo with the Participants of the Congress of Association of Asian Constitutional Court and Equivalent Institutions (AACC) 2017 in Solo, Central Java, on Wednesday (9/8)
Constitutions serve as a tool to ensure that no group can impose their will without respecting the rights of other citizens and Indonesia as a democratic country,adopts constitutions as the main reference in creating a healthy and instituting democracy.
The statement was made by President Joko Jokowi Widodo at the opening of the Congress of Association of Asian Constitutional Court and Equivalent Institutions (AACC) 2017 at the Auditorium of Sebelas Maret University in Solo, Central Java, on Wednesday (9/8).
Referring to our Constitution, there is no institution that can hold absolute power, let alone promote dictatorship, President Jokowi firmly said.
The Constitution, the President added, ensures balance of power among state institutions, in which they can control and monitor each other. The President also asserted that constitution prevents the establishment of mobocracy that imposes will in the name of majority. Within that corridor, President Jokowi believes that a healthy and instituting democracy will be created.
However, the President reminded all that the challenges in the Constitution are hard and the world is changing rapidly, there are many new things.
Compared to the earlier years of the country when the Constitution was still formulated, the current challenges continue to emerge, including radicalism, terrorism, drug trafficking, human trafficking, arms smuggling, cybercrimes, and many more, the President said.
In addition, the President said that the generation has changed and we are now facing generation Y/millennials which has different way of thinking from the previous generations.
This is also a challenge on how we make the young generation to understand the values and spirit of the Constitution, President Jokowi added.
Amidst the storm of challenges, President Jokowi asserted that the role and position of the Constitutional Court in every democratic country become more important. The President added that the Constitutional Court serves as a light that illuminates a country’s comprehension and an anchor to understand the initial idea of the founders of the state in formulating the Constitution.
To feel the spirit and noble intentions of the founders of the state, the Constitution Court interprets the Constitution so it always becomes a guide and an inspiration for the nation and state in responding to new challenges, the President added.
Therefore, President Jokowi welcomed this years international symposium which adopts the theme Constitutional Court as the Guardian of Ideology and Democracy in Plural Society.
I hope we all can learn from the experiences of other countries and hopefully the outputs of this symposium can strengthen the quality of our Constitutional Courts and the practice of democracy.
The Opening of the 2017 AACC Conference was also attended by the Constitutional Court Chief Justice Arief Hidayat, heads of state institutions, Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Wiranto, Presidential Chief of Staff Teten Masduki, Governor of Central Java Ganjar Pranowo, Rector of UNS Ravik Karsidi, and constitutional court judges of friendly countries. (DND/GUN/ES) (RA/EP/YM/Naster)
