Cooperatives are part of the three pillars of the national economy, including state-owned and private enterprises, then there is no difference in legal entities with legal entity. It is delivered by Sonny Dewi Judiasih as Government expert when giving testimony in judicial review of Act 17 of 2012 on Cooperatives on Thursday (4/7).

"Cooperatives are part of the governance pillar of the national economy and the national economy including integral SOEs and private enterprises. The cooperative to another legal entity that has an equal footing, but in reality it is divided between the PT with the cooperative as a legal entity," she said at the Plenary Room.

According to Sonny, the existence of Cooperatives Act is law reform mandated by Act No. 17 of 2007 on RPJP. In addition, the Cooperatives Act also includes the principle of the cooperative, as stated in Article 3 of Cooperatives Act. "The principle of co-operative has its own place in the Cooperatives Act. This means that the emphasis by the former Act is very concerned about the existence of Article 33 UUD 1945," she explained.

Junaedi as a government witness in the trial revealed the presence Cooperatives Act is precisely to help the cooperative had built to last. "Cooperative us feel disadvantaged because previously we got a letter of reprimand from the department of cooperatives. But after this law, the reprimand was withdrawn," said Junaedi.

In a previous trial, several cooperatives in East Java was recorded as the applicant in this case, including the Indonesian Civil Servants Cooperative Association (GKPRI) East Java, Central Village Unit Cooperatives (Puskud) East Java, East Java Women’s Cooperative Centre (Puskowanjati), Center Cooperative An-Nisa ‘East Java, Central Cooperative BUEKA Assakinah East Java Indonesian Dairy Cooperatives Association, and several individual applicant.

In the main petition, the Petitioner objected to Article 1 paragraph 1, Article 50 paragraph (1), Article 55 paragraph (1), Article 56 paragraph (1), Article 66, Article 67, Article 68, Article 69, Article 70, Article 71, Article 72, Article 73, Article 74, Article, 75, Article 76, Article 77, Article 80, Article 82, and Article 83 of Law No. 17 of 2012 on Cooperatives (Cooperatives Act). According to the applicant, these articles had violated their constitutional rights as guaranteed by Article 28C Paragraph (2), Article 28D Paragraph (2), Article 28H Paragraph (4), and Article 33 Paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution. (Lulu Anjarsari / mh)