In the context of strengthening the Supreme Court (MA) and developing legal science in Indonesia, the Center of Law and Judicial Research and Development (Puslitbang Kumdil) MA held a Focus Group Discussion (FGD), where there were Law Faculty academics from four higher educational institutes of Jakarta: Universitas Pelita Harapan (UPH), Universitas Trisakti, Universitas Esa Unggul (UEU), and Universitas Taruma Negara (UNTAR). The FGD was held from 4 to 6 November 2019 at Hotel Santika Premiere, BSD City Serpong, Tangerang.

In relation to this event, Dr. Hasbi Hasan, MH., Head of Puslitbang Kumdil reminded that the theme of this research is significant in protecting the continuity of Puslitbang Kumdil MA RI. It is hoped that this research will return Puslitbang’s function to its fitrah, which is to become an elite institute that brings pride to the nation.

The FGD was held to have a comprehensive explanation from different perspectives in law. The participants are experts in their own law area and were divided into two teams, where each team discussed a different topic.

Academics of UPH’s Law Faculty (FH UPH) and academics of FH Trisakti made up the first team from 4 to 5 November 2019. The team discussed two topics, which were about how Puslitbang MA must be to bring benefits in developing legal studies and to dig potential research collaborations between Puslitbang MA and higher educational institutions. The second discussion topic was about the development of the Center for Science and Technology Excellence (PUI) in the field of legal studies.

The first team presented speakers from the research team such as Dr. Ismail Rumadan, M.H. and Sri Gilang, M.S.R.P., and academics such as Dr. Arie Afriansyah, SH, LLM, PhD. from the Law Faculty of Universitas Indonesia and Aswin Firmansyah, ST., ME., representative of Director General of the Ministry of Research and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia (Kemenristekdikti).

In his interesting explanation, Dr. Arie suggested that Puslitbang must aim to improve the quality of research that will be used for the institute and the people. It must not focus on the quantity of research, which might not be used for the good of the people.

The speaker from Kemenristekdikti, Aswin Firmansyah, pushed for the creation of Puslitbang that is first in legal studies research. As of now, the theme of research in legal studies is not included in the list of eleven themes of PUI research. Institutions must collaborate to do a multi-scope and interdisciplinary research aiming for a high standard, which must relevant to the needs of IPTEK. Aswin reminds that collaboration must replace ego-system attitudes with eco-system so that they will be more productive, therefore producing products that satisfy end-users needs.

Dr. Jur. Udin Silalahi, SH., LLM., a participant from FH UPH, supported the optimization of Puslitbang in MA through improvements in human resources (SDM), which will have the capacity to do research and to think of what’s next. Silalahi also put forward the importance of increasing collaboration between higher education institutes in order to produce research that will support both the internals and externals of MA.

Meanwhile, Dr. Bambang Widjojanto, a participant from FH Trisakti Jakarta and previous Vice Head of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) emphasized that the opening of the 1945 Constitution has high philosophical value, especially on the words “enrich the life of the nation”. This sentence is meaningful, encouraging the MA to push Puslitbang Kumdil to become one of the supporting units that are elite and to embody the justice system that our founding fathers realized in the 1945 Constitution.

The first team of FGD had fifteen academics from FH UPH and Trisakti. The discussions went smoothly and there was comprehensive input from many experts of legal studies, especially inputs about research that can be combined in the areas of Puslitbang MA.