Petitioners’ attorney and Principal Petitioner Habiburokhman after the judicial review hearing of the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law on Monday (20/11) in the Courtroom of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

The Constitutional Court (MK) held a follow-up hearing on the judicial review of Law No. 11/2008 on Electronic Information and Transactionsas amended by Law No. 19/2016 on Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE Law) at the Courtroom of the Constitutional Court on Monday 20/11). The hearing was scheduled to listen to expert statement from the Petitioner and statement of the House of Representatives (DPR), but the House was unable to attend. 

No. 76/PUU-XV/2017 was filed by Habiburokhman, an advocate. The Petitioner requested for a material judicial review of Article 28 paragraph (2) and Article 45A paragraph (2) of the ITE Law against Article 1 paragraph (3), Article 28D paragraph (1), Article 28E paragraph (3), and Article 28G paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution. "The Petitioners present an expert with a written statement," said Kris Ibnu, one of the Petitioners\' attorneys.

In response to the submission of the written statement, the Panel of Justices led by the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, Arief Hidayat, authorized the statement of expert and the evidence presented by the Petitioners. "The hearing today concludes; we have received a written statement from the expert of the Petitioners and additional evidence will be approved at the next hearing," Justice Arief explained. 

In their petition, the Petitioners argue that the a quo articles violate their constitutional rights because they have the potential to be used as a tool to criminalize the Petitioners. This is because in giving opinion, there is a vague definition of the word antargolongan (\'intergroups\'). In addition, in its application, the articles can be interpreted very widely into any group existing in the community, both formal and informal.

Before ending the hearing, the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, Arief, said that the hearing will be continued on Monday, December 4, 2017 at 14.00 WIB with the agenda to hear the statement of the House as well as statements from two experts and from one witness from the Government’s side. (Sri Pujianti/LA/Yuniar Widiastuti)