Independence and Integrity of Constitutional Justices: Theoretical Approach and Its Application in Indonesia
Iwan Satriawan, Septi Nur Wijayanti, Beni Hidayat, Tanto Lailam
Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta
Abstract
The article aims at discussing the importance of independence and integrity of the Constitutional Judges in the light of democratic system. The article also explores the challenges facing the application of the independence and integrity of the Constitutional Judges, with special reference to Indonesia. The article is based on a normative legal research which uses philosophical, constitutional, comparative and cases approach. The result of research shows that firstly, independence and integrity of the constitutional judges is important because theoretically the constitutional judges are the main actors who guarantee the working of rule of law principle of the countries. The constitutional judges are the guardian of the Constitution which means securing the working of democracy as well as the protecting the citizens rights. Therefore, strengthening mechanism of recruitment of constitutional judges is also needed. Secondly, in case of Indonesia, the quality of recruitment process of constitutional justices influences the quality of the constitutional justices. Thirdly, the challenges of implementation of the independence and integrity of the constitutional judges are strongly influenced by the political factor since the constitutional judges are mostly appointed through a process which involves political actors in parliament and presidency. Accordingly, there is a need of better recruitment model of constitutional justices and statesmanship commitment from the political actors in the countries. The better model of recruitment of constitutional justices and statesmanship commitment of political actors of the countries will be determinant factors which may lead the countries towards a developed and strong country.
Keywords: independence, integrity, constitutional justices
Topic: ASIAN Conference on Comparative Laws