Court Registrar, Zainal Arifin Hoesein, handed over a copy of Court Decision to the parties in the review of Act on Regional Government, Tuesday (17/11), at Court Plenary Room. (Doc. CCRI/Wiwik Budi Wasito)
Jakarta-MKOnline, The Constitutional Court (The Court) decided to rule out the request from Petitioner I (I Gede Winasa) in his position as Jembrana Regent and Related Party I (Bambang Dwi Hartono) Surabaya City Mayor in the review of Act Number 32 of 2004 about Regional Government (Act on Regional Government) related to Article 58 letter o "Candidates for Regional Head and Vice are citizen of Republic of Indonesia which fulfill the requirement of not holding position of regional head or vice for 2 (two) consecutive times within the same position".
The Decision for case Number 22/PUU-VII/2009 was read by nine Constitutional Justices on Tuesday (17/11), at The Court Plenary Room.
Meanwhile for Petitioner II (Nurdin Basirun) a Regency of Karimun in Riau Islands and Related Party II (Gabriel Manek) a regent of Northern Central Timor, The Court decided to grant their plea ofr some items. The Court considered that it was unfair for someone who held office a position for less than half of the term of office to be made equal to ones who held more than half or more of the term of office.
"Half of the term of office or more is considered as one term of office. It means that someone who holds office of Regional Head or Regional Head ad interim for half of or more than half of the term of office, then he or she is counted as holding the position for one term," announced Constitutional Justice Maria Farida.
The Court’s decision was based on the consideration that Petitioner II as the Regent of Karimun ad interim was not directly voted and he was continuing the previous Regent’s term of office for nine months. Further, Related Party II held the position for nine and a half months. "Based on proportionality, balance and the principle of properness, it was not counted as one term because it was less than two and a half years or less than half of one term of office," explained Maria.
Meanwhile for Petitioner I as a Regent of Jembrana, The Court considered that Petitioner I had held the term of office twice despite the direct or indirect method of election. Further, Related Party I as Surabaya Mayor had held the office for two years and nine months replacing the late previous Mayor.
In the Decision, The Court concluded that Article 58 letter o of Act on Regional Government did not violate Article 28D paragraph (1) and paragraph (3), also Article 28G paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution. Meanwhile the calculation of the term of office was not obstructed by the existence of two different acts.
"The Court decided that the term of office which was considered as one period was the one that had been undergone half or more than half of the term of office," announced Constitutional Justice Moh. Mahfud MD. (RNB Aji/YDJ tr.)
Thursday, November 19, 2009 | 12:57 WIB 294