As a permanent secretariat of the Association of Asian Constitutional Courts and Equivalent Institutions (AACC), the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia (MKRI) is always committed to advancing the association on all counts, in terms of capacity building for the working level of the member states in addition to planning and coordination as well as implementation of activities for the justices. This statement was made by Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat at the opening of the Sixth International Short Course of the AACC in Jakarta on Thursday, August 10, 2023.

Justice Arief believes in this modern era, the development of an institution or organization is highly contingent on both top-down and bottom-up collaboration. “As part of judicial institutions, we have the obligation to deliver decisions that can provide a sense of justice. And it must be noted that this obligation does not only rest on the shoulders of the justices, but also on yours as supporting staff members of the constitutional justices,” he said.

Building on that notion, since he was given trust as President of the AACC in 2015, one of the priority agendas have been to carry out programs to exchange experience as well as train staff members of the Constitutional Courts of the AACC members.

Technological Advances

He further explained that the Sixth AACC International Short Course, the MKRI decided on the theme “Democracy, Digital Transformation, and Judicial Independence.” “This theme was chosen with a particular purpose. We all understand that as a judicial institution and the guardian of democracy, the Constitutional Court is mandated to uphold the Constitution as the supreme law that manages the administration of the state based on the principles of democracy,” he emphasized.

He stressed that technological advances come with numerouschallenges. They bring about opportunities and challenges that come with the high traffic of information. “Consequently, provocative information, hoaxes, and post-truth are commonplace. We understand the concept of Society 5.0 as an era where digital technology is an important part of life where humans is the main component. Similarly, law makes humans the key to legal mobilization. This means that the law does not function optimally without humans there to move the law. Therefore, I believe that technology is for humans; not the other way around,” he revealed.

Justice Arief also said that technology exists to develop, utilize, and use for the interest of mankind, without departing from the image of the Creator. He recounted his work visit to Dubai in 2022, where he had the opportunity to learn about how artificial intelligence has entered their justice system, including in the decisions.

He added that they were testing, in several financial cases, instead of using the judges’ wisdom to make decisions, to use algorithms designed in such a way to come to just decisions.

“This is a challenge for us all. As judicial institutions that review the nation’s norms and principles enshrined in the Constitution, it is important for us to prioritize vision, feelings, and intention as God’s creations equipped with perfect intelligence. Based on some of the things I said earlier, I believe that this short course will be very interesting for all participant to find out how technology can support humans in guarding democracy and realizing independent judiciary,” he explained.

Justice Arief also expressed hope that in the sharing session, participants will learn from one another and exchange ideas, so there would be new positive things to bring back to their respective countries.