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House’s Commission III member Arteria Dahlan giving a statement in the judicial review hearing of Law No. 25 of 2008 on the Establishment of Sungai Penuh City in Jambi Province, Thursday (18/6) in the Courtroom of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—Kerinci Regency is vast and populous, so it has not been fully developed. Therefore, Sungai Penuh City was developed from the regency in order to improve the people’s welfare, said House’s (DPR) Commission III member Arteria Dahlan in the judicial review hearing of Law No. 25 of 2008 on the Establishment of Sungai Penuh City in Jambi Province, Thursday (18/6/2020).

The fifth hearing of case No. 3/PUU-XVIII/2020 was held in the Plenary Courtroom of the Constitutional Court with physical distancing amidst the large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) in the transition period in the Jakarta Special Capital Region, in accordance with the health protocols set by the Indonesian Health Ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Arteria further explained that the formation of Sungai Penuh City had been decided after studying the socio-cultural, political, and economic effects to improve services in regional government and to utilize regional potentials. Consequently, the Law on the Establishment of Sungai Penuh City was formulated, after discussions on the allocation of city development funds. Meanwhile, regarding the Petitioners’ argument that Article 13 paragraph (4) of the Establishment of Sungai Penuh City is multi-interpretive and discriminatory, requiring transfer of assets without exception, the House was of the opinion that the formulation of the article fulfilled statutory requirements.

"The Government Regulation No. 27 of 2014 regulates the transfer of regional assets. The [article] has provided clarity on the limitation of assets and documents that can be transferred and the transfer of receivables. Lawmakers formulated carefully everything related to the formation of the city with clear norms," Arteria explained about the case, which was petitioned by 13 petitioners, who are retired civil servants, advocates, youth leaders, lecturers, and former members of the Kerinci Regency DPRD.

The House believes that the problem that occurred in the a quo case is an implementation issue and not the constitutionality issue of norms, given that the agreement between Kerinci Regency and Sungai Penuh City was facilitated by Jambi Province. Through this meeting, an agreement was reached, in whch both parties agreed to inventory the handover of assets that had been reported to the Interior Ministry in August 2019.

"During assets handover, an agreement was created between the two parties regarding the assets being transferred. Any neglect on the part of the executors was not a case of the unconstitutionality of the norm but an implementation issue of the norm. The ineffectiveness of a norm does not [imply unconstitutionality of the norm]," Arteria said.

Also read: Proliferation Part of Government’s Effort to Improve People’s Welfare

Implementation Issue

Regarding the Petitioners’ legal standing, the House gave its opinion based on five limitations on constitutional impairment. Petitioners 1-9 are individual citizens, while Petitioners 10-13 are public legal entities. According to the House, the a quo article mentions the criteria of assets to transfer to Sungai Penuh City. Therefore, the Petitioners rights and authority are irrelevant because the issue only concerns the transfer of assets by the relevant legal apparatus.

"So there is no constitutional loss and the Petitioners only [assumed that] the a quo article will violate their rights. So, it can be concluded that there will be no loss and there is relation to the implementation of the a quo norm," Arteria explained before the hearing chaired by Chief Justice Anwar Usman aeight explained other constitutional justices.

In the previous hearing, the Petitioners argued that the a quo article is ambiguous and multi-interpretive. The issue actually stemmed from the proliferation of Kerinci Regency into a new autonomous city named Sungai Penuh. Four other regencies in Jambi Province were expanded into regencies. This difference resulted in the movement of the regency capital to Bukit Tengah Village, Siulak Sub-district. The expansion of Kerinci Regency into two autonomous regions was the consequence of the proliferation within the conditions stipulated in the Proliferation Law.

In addition, although the new regency capital was imposed on Kerinci Regency, the special funding was given by the Central Government to Sungai Penuh City, even though the parent regency also needed funding for the development of infrastructure in the infrastructure-deficient Bukit Tengah Village. 

Before concluding the session, Justice Anwar informed the litigants that the next hearing will listen to the Relevant Party’s (Jambi governor) statement on Thursday, July 9, 2020 at 11.00 WIB. (Sri Pujianti/LA)

Translated by: Yuniar Widiastuti

Translation uploaded on 18/6/2020

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