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(Left to right) Principal Petitioners Sjamsiah, Siti Nia Nurhasanah, and Bambang Soeroso accompanied by legal counsel Irmanputra Sidin after attending hearing on the decision of judicial review of KDIY Law, Thursday (31/8) in the Constitutional Court Building. Photo by PR/Ganie.

The Constitutional Court (MK) decided that women could run for governor of Yogyakarta. This was stated by the Court in Decision Number 88/PUU-XIV/2016 pronounced on Thursday (31/8).

"Judging, granting the petition of the Petitioners completely," said Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, Arief Hidayat, giving the ruling of the petition filed by eight Yogyakarta citizens of various professions, among others, abdi dalem (court retainers) of Yogyakarta Palace, village apparatus, anti-discrimination of women\\'s rights activists, and Chairwoman of National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) in 1998.

The Petitioners filed a material judicial review of Article 18 Paragraph (1) letter m of Law Number 13 Year 2012 on the Special Privileges of the Special Region of Yogyakarta (KDIY Law) stating:

"Candidates for Governor and Vice Governor shall be a citizen of the Republic of Indonesia who must meet the following requirements: m. submit a resume containing, among others, educational background, work experience, siblings, wife, and child(ren)."

The Court declared the phrase " containing, among others, educational background, work experience, siblings, wife, and child(ren)" contrary to the 1945 Constitution and had no binding legal force. Thus, women can run for governor of Yogyakarta.

According to the Court, the stipulation of Article 18 paragraph (1) letter m of the KDIY Law contains restrictions on parties whose statuses do not meet the qualifications in the a quo norm to become a candidate for Governor or Vice Governor in DIY (Special Region of Yogyakarta), including women. Such restrictions, according to the Court, are not based on the intent to fulfill fair demands based on moral judgment, religious values, security, and public order in a democratic society. On the contrary, in order to fulfill fair demands, the Court considered that such restrictions should not occur.

"In other words, in a democratic Indonesian society, no aspect of moral, religion, security, or public order is denied or violated if the parties mentioned in Article 18 paragraph (1) letter m of the KDIY Law, including women, become candidates for Governor or Vice Governor in DIY," he asserted.

This, according to the Court, is empirically proven in the filling of position of regional heads in other regions, both for the positions of regional heads at the provincial and district/city levels as well as for public official positions in general.

DIY Privileges

In addition, the Court also stated that the article was not in accordance with the historical establishment of the Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat Sultanate. The Court stated that Yogyakarta voluntarily joined the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI). Prior to joining Indonesia, Yogyakarta was a separate entity. That is, Yogyakarta existed earlier than Indonesia.

"There are consequences that arose [from that history], in that legally the election of the sultan ideally refers to the internal rules in the Yogyakarta Palace," Constitutional Justice Suhartoyo read out the legal considerations.

However, he added, the a quo article was actually a form of state intervention on the authority of the election of leaders in Yogyakarta. This, the Court asserted, is contradictory to Article 18 B paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution, which affirms that the State respects special regions as stipulated in the law.

"The requirement of curriculum vitae submission during governor candidacy is, in fact, an attitude that does not respect the privileges of Yogyakarta," he explained.

On the other hand, the a quo norm, according to the Court, is also not relevant for application. That is because the document requirement is limited to regions where the governor is elected through the electoral mechanism (pilkada). As for Yogyakarta, the Sultan was chosen internally by the palace and not through elections.

(ARS/lul/Yuniar Widiastuti)

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