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Deputy Chief Constitutional Justice Aswanto closing the 2019 Work Meeting on Saturday (14/12/2019). Photo by Humas MK/Gani.

RIAU ISLANDS, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—At the closing of the 2019 Work Meeting on the third day, Saturday (14/12/2019), Deputy Chief Constitutional Justice Aswanto said that in the future the constitutional issues faced by the Constitutional Court would be increasingly complex. As an institution that has this authority, the Court must prepare itself and its staff members. The Deputy Chief Justice said this before 173 participants, consisting of eight constitutional justices, researchers, substitute registrars, as well as structural and functional officials in Bintan, Riau Islands.

Justice Aswanto believed that the meeting required the readiness of all parties in the Constitutional Court to continuously strive to carry out the vision and mission of the Constitutional Court through its responsibilities as an independent institution. In carrying out its main duties and functions for the settlement of cases, self-evaluation was needed to achieve independence and accountability.

“Our duties and constitutional issues are increasingly complex. Therefore, to maintain professionalism, independence, and accountability, we should work together,” he said before the participants.

Results of Work Meeting

In his report, Secretary General M. Guntur Hamzah mentioned the results of the meeting. In relation to substantive issues, before requirements for filing a petition is put in the regulation (PMK), those requirements must be detailed on the Court’s website, the number of witnesses must be reviewed, and the number of petition copies must be reduced.

In the meeting, it was agreed that the Court must connect to the database of advocates. In addition, digital data on the Court’s website must be improved and kept secure.

Change in the Implementation of Article

On the second day of the meeting, Friday (13/12/2019), when the Constitutional Court Regulation on the 2020 Regional Election (Pilkada) was discussed, Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra said that the application of Article 158 of Law No. 10/2016 on the Regional Head Election (Pilkada) in relation to threshold must be reviewed. He said that the a quo article must be applied exactly as it had been in the 2019 legislative election results dispute (PHPU).

“So, the accuracy of a case being petitioned is determined after the petitioner, respondent, KPU, and Bawaslu give their statements in the hearing, because it opens space for initial evidence,” he said.

Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat opined that the article may be applied as a formal limitation, but if the petition does not meet the requirements, the a quo norm may apply as it previously did. In response, Deputy Chief Constitutional Justice Aswanto said that there must be affirmation in the Constitutional Court Regulation (PMK) should the implementation of the a quo norm changes.

Legal Basis

Constitutional Justice Suhartoyo believed that the use of digital technology in filing an online petition must be given a legal basis because petitioners may be required to file online petitions in the future, while not all legal counsels are advocates. Therefore, this requirement must be detailed in the revised regulation. Observing digitization efforts, Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbaningsih requested that the online and offline petitions as well as evidence be detailed in the revised regulation.

Petition Application

The IT team detailed the improvements with regard to application for filing petition. One of the team members explained the steps of filing in the petition form until the petitioner receives the Completeness Examination List of Petitioner’s Petition Filing (DPKP3). Justice Anwar requested that those improvements be disseminated to advocates, political parties, and other stakeholders.

The work meeting was held for four days from Thursday to Sunday (12-15/12/2019), led by the nine constitutional justices. Structural and functional officials, as well as staff members were in attendance. The first session of the meeting will discuss the substantive and technical issues in the implementation of the 2019 Simultaneous PHPU, while the second discusses Case Processing Information System, and the third discusses the revision of the Constitutional Court Regulations on Judicial Review and the 2020 Pilkada. (Sri Pujianti/LA)

Translated by: Yuniar Widiastuti

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