The Constitutional Court held a judicial review session of Law No. 32 Year 2004 concerning Regional Governments on Tuesday, February 20, 2007, in the Court’s courtroom. This preliminary examination was chaired by Constitutional Judge Dr. Harjono, S.H., MCL with the members, I Dewa Palguna, S.H., M.H., and Prof. H.A.S. Natabaya, S.H., LL.M.

The Petitioners in this case Number 5/PUU-V/2007 are a member of the Regional People’s Legislative Assembly of Lombok Regency, Mr. Lalu Ranggalawe, a representative of Public Policy Monitoring Agency of Nusa Tenggara Barat province (LPKB NTB), Andi Muladi, and a representative of the Indonesian Resources Social Foundation (YS2I), Kreshno Yuwono, and acting as their attorneys-in-fact were Suriahadi, S.H., and Edy Gunawan, S.H.

The Petitioners filed a petition for judicial review on the Regional Government Law as in their opinion law fails to provide opportunity and possibility for independent candidates who are not nominated by political parties. In addition, according to the Petitioners, the current local elections do not truly reflect the interest of the public in general. As an example, the petitioners mention about the victory gained by independent candidates in the local elections in Nangroe Aceh Darussalam province which proves that the people really need independence since they no longer trust political parties.

In the Petitum, the Petitioners ask the Panel of Judges of the Constitutional Court to declare that several articles in the Regional Government Law, namely Article 56 Paragraph (2), Article 59 Paragraph (1), Paragraph (2), Paragraph (3), Paragraph (4), and Paragraph (5) Sub-Paragraph a, Paragraph (5) Sub-Paragraph c, Paragraph (6) to the extent that they include the phrase: “…political parties or coalition of political parties …” and Article 60 Paragraph (2), Paragraph (3), Paragraph (4) and Paragraph (5) to the extent that they include the phrase: “…political parties or coalition of political parties”, do not have a binding legal effect since they are contradictory to the Preamble of the 1945 Constitution especially paragraph IV, Article 18 Paragraph (4), Article 28C Paragraph (2), Article 28 D Paragraph (3), Article 28E Paragraph (3), Article 28H Paragraph (2), and Article 28I Paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution.

In this Preliminary Examination session, Member Judge I Dewa Palguna advised the Petitioners to revise their Petition and also to explain the status of Legal Entities represented consecutively and also with the constitutional losses. Before adjourning the session for judicial review on the Regional Government Law, the Panel Chairperson Harjono gave a period of 14 days for the revision and for the presentation of written evidence and experts, to be submitted to the Registrar for the next session. (Prana Patrayoga/BAI)