---

Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbaningsih speaking at a virtual public lecture of the Law Faculty of Gadjah Mada University, Friday (9/10). Photo by Humas MK/Gani.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—The judicial review of laws is not only related to that in the Constitutional Court (MK) but also in the Supreme Court (MA), so students must read and understand a list of literature so that they will have understood the procedure to file a judicial review to the Constitutional Court or the Supreme Court in the future, said Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbaningsih at a virtual public lecture on “The judicial review of Laws in Indonesia” on Friday evening, October 9, 2020. The lecture was organized by the Law Faculty of Gadjah Mada University for 12 second-semester students of the Master of Laws in Litigation.

Justice Enny said that there are formal and material judicial review. The standards to review the norms are the official Constitution text, written documents closely related to the Constitution text, the constitutional values in the practice of constitutionality in Indonesia, and the values that live in the people’s cognitive awareness. She said that the Supreme Court has a limited judicial review authority where it can only review statutory regulations under laws at the cassation level. “So, the Constitutional Court is authorized to conduct constitutional review, while the Supreme Court is authorized to review the legality of norms,” she said.

Historical Aspect

Justice Enny said that before the Reform, the Investigating Committee for Preparatory Works for Independence (BPUPK) already put forward the idea of judicial review, albeit only to discuss that a special body was needed to review the constitutionality of norms. The Supreme Court also issued the Supreme Court Regulation No. 1 of 1993 on the Right to Material Review. The beginning of the Reform saw the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) issue TAP MPR-RI No. III/MPR/2000, which gave the authority to the MPR. However, it was for legislative review, as the MPR is not a judicial branch, but a political body.

Only in 2003, after four amendments to the 1945 Constitution, did the judicial powers start to be carried out by the Supreme Court and by its subordinate judicatory bodies and by the Constitutional Court. Since 2003, the judicial review authority has developed significantly, although the implementation has declined since the COVID-19 pandemic. This means that the public have begun to be aware of and understand the impacts of judicial review.

Ways to Review Constitutionality

The lady justice explained that in reviewing the constitutionality of a norm, the petitioners and the constitutional justices not only read, understand, and interpret the wording of the 1945 Constitution within a certain limit, but they must review further how the norm in the Constitution live in society.

“How the law lives in society and whether it provides an ideal, necessary condition or even results in the violation of people’s rights. This is what needs to be assessed," she stressed. 

Writer: Sri Pujianti
Editor: Lulu Anjarsari
Translator: Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 10/23/2020 22:57 WIB

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

---