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The Petitioner’s experts Bagir Manan and Feri Amsari giving a statement in the judicial review hearing of the Law on the Establishment of Sungai Penuh City in Jambi Province, Monday (20/7) in the Courtroom of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—Sungai Penuh City has the right to fiscal balance funds in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. However, the legislature failed to recall that although the new area is entitled to various assets in its territory, Kerinci Regency as the parent region should also require special funds because it had to move its central government along with all facilities and infrastructure. Meanwhile, the Law on the Establishment of Sungai Penuh City only regulates the fulfillment of rights to the new region, said Bagir Manan, an expert for the Petitioners in the seventh hearing of the judicial review of Law No. 25 of 2008 on the Establishment of Sungai Penuh City in Jambi Province on Monday, July 20, 2020 in the Plenary Courtroom.

The case No. 3/PUU-XVIII/2020 was filed by 13 petitioners who are civil servant retirees, advocates, youth figures, lecturers, and former Kerinci Regency DPRD members. They challenge Article 13 paragraph (1), (3), (5), (7), (8), and (9) of the Law on the Establishment of Sungai Penuh City.

Manan said Article 13 paragraph (1) of the law, which states that the transfer of public facilities located in Sungai Penuh City, resulted in the loss of assets of Kerinci Regency. He believes that legal provisions must be logical and follows a good government system. "This cannot be applied readily, [as] it is not fair for Kerinci Regency because it has to surrender all existing facilities and is also required to build new facilities and by themselves," he said before presiding justice Chief Justice Anwar Usman.

Manan observed an issue of legal certainty and justice, which is essential for the transfer of those assets. As a result, this problem dragged on that Kerinci Regency had to bear the burden of development. Thus, the Kerinci Regency government as an autonomous region has legal standing as a public legal entity that has constitutional rights in the a quo case. "As a legal entity, the Kerinci Regency government has the right to justice and legal certainty [that is] guaranteed by the 1945 Constitution. Therefore, the provision of the a quo law doesn’t adequately provide legal justice for Kerinci Regency," he explained.

Functions of Regional Government

Manan added that in a good system, the regional government has several functions, such as public services, management of government administration, as well as function related to history, democracy, and diversity. The government serves to develop public services for the people’s welfare. In the Constitution, this function is applied through the division of central and regional authorities, meaning that autonomous regions have the right to serve the public interest in achieving people’s prosperity.

Meanwhile, the management function of the regional government is to guarantee efficient distribution of government affairs to the regions in order to avoid excessive bureaucracy. In terms of historical function, in Indonesia there were kingdoms and government units such as indigenous peoples in villages, nagaris, clans, etc. These units were retained to ensure the government’s effectiveness.

Manan said that Kerinci Regency has authorities in relation to human, economic, and financial resources in its territory. Its proliferation into Sungai Penuh City not only divides its territory but also its resources. "This greatly affects government duties, especially public services, though it can be ascertained that it wasn’t the intention of the proliferation. The division was intended to improve the government functions," he explained.

Conditions for Proliferation

Another expert for the Petitioners, Feri Amsari, observed that the original assets were only given to the new city, leading to the parent region’s development not meeting target. He added that the parent region and the transitioning, newly-formed region must both be developed. This, he said, can lead to political disputes due to the uneven distribution of assets. Feri revealed that in 1999-2008 quite a lot of new areas were formed.

In his opinion, the formation of Sungai Penuh City doesn’t show balance in asset distribution. In fact, he believes that proliferation must meet several conditions, for example it must help the region develop and improve its services; it must encourage the development of an underdeveloped region.

Also read:

Affected by Regional Proliferation, Civil Servants Challenge Law on the Establishment of Sungai Penuh City

Kerinci Regent Is Additional Petitioner in the Judicial Review of Law on the Establishment of Sungai Penuh City

House and Govt Unprepared, Hearing on Law on the Establishment of Sungai Penuh City Postponed

Proliferation Part of Government’s Effort to Improve People’s Welfare

Jambi Governor: Asset Separation between Kerinci Regency and Sungai Penuh City Lawful

The issue in this case stemmed from the proliferation of Kerinci Regency into a new autonomous city named Sungai Penuh, while 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, Chief Justice Anwar reminded that the hearing would resume on Tuesday, August 18, 2020 at 11:00 WIB to listen to the Petitioners’ witness.

Writer: Sri Pujianti
Editor: Nur R.
PR: Lambang TS
Translator: Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 7/21/2020 16:12 WIB

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case where any differences occur between the English and the Indonesian version, the Indonesian version will prevail.

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