Attorney Viktor Santoso Tandiasa delivering the points of revision of the judicial review petition of State Ministry Law on Monday (13/1) in the Panel Courtroom of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Gani.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—The Constitutional Court (MK) held the second judicial review hearing of Article 10 of Law No. 39 of 2008 on State Ministries in the Panel Courtroom of the Constitutional Court on Monday (13/1/2018). The case No. 80/PUU-XVII/2019 was petitioned by Forum on Law and Constitutional Studies (FKHK) Chairman Bayu Segara, who attended the hearing with attorney Viktor Santoso Tandiasa.

Attorney Viktor Santoso Tandiasa conveyed several points of revision, such as the addition of Petitioner Novan Lailatul Rizky, who is a law student of Sahid University Jakarta. The legal standing of Petitioner II was also revised to include the position as Vice Chairperson of the Law Faculty Senate of Sahid University Jakarta. Petitioner II had also used their right to vote in 2014, exercising the people’s sovereignty.

Viktor also explained that the reason for the petition is that the Law of the State Ministry did not regulate the appointment and dismissal of deputy ministers, in contrast to that of ministers, which is stipulated in Chapter V on the Appointment and Dismissal of Ministers, which must fulfill requirements. "One of them is that appointment as a minister requires fulfillment of the requirements: (a) Indonesian citizen, believe in God Almighty, loyal to Pancasila, physically/spiritually healthy, have integrity, have never been sentence to prison based on a court decision. Even Presidential Regulation No. 60 of 2012 on Deputy Minister does not regulate the requirements for deputy ministers. It means, logically, what is not regulated or not prohibited is permissible," Viktor explained before a session led by Chief Justice Anwar Usman accompanied by Constitutional Justices Wahiduddin Adams and Manahan M. P. Sitompul. 

Prohibition against Holding Down Multiple Positions

In addition to the absence of requirements for deputy ministers in the a quo law, the Petitioner also believe that there is no prohibition from holding another position in addition to being a deputy minister. Unlike the minister position that is banned from holding multiple positions by Article 23 of the State Ministry Law. "In the absence of a ban on multiple positions for a deputy minister, any deputy minister may concurrently serve as a commissioner or director in a state company or a state-owned company or a private company," Viktor explained. 

The Petitioner believes that the inauguration of 12 deputy ministers by President Joko Widodo on October 25, 2019 contradicts Article 1 paragraph (3) of the 1945 Constitution. He argued that the deputy minister office is subjective without a clear position, authority, and function in the State Ministry Law. The function of deputy ministers is regulated by a presidential regulation, which goes against the constitutional rules, in which the duties and authority of the deputy minister are subject matter of the law. The State Ministry Law does not regulate the duties, function, and authority of deputy ministers at all. This certainly can lead to arbitrariness, by giving authority to deputy ministers without involving the House (DPR) as the people\\'s representatives.

In the petition, the Petitioner also mentioned that the appointment of 12 deputy ministers was a subjective act of the president, who did not have a clear reason for urgency. The Petitioner considered the deputy ministerial position to have resulted in the state having to prepare special facilities, which only wasted the state budget. Therefore, the Petitioner requested that the provisions of Article 10 of the State Ministry Law be declared contrary to the 1945 Constitution and has no binding legal force.  (Sri Pujianti/LA)

Translated by: Yuniar Widiastuti