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Petitioner Viktor Santoso Tandiasa attending the ruling hearing of the judicial review of the State Ministry Law virtually, Monday (26/10) in the Plenary Courtroom of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Gani.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—The Constitutional Court (MK) decide to strike out the judicial review petition of Law No. 39 of 2008 on State Ministries. The ruling hearing took place on Monday, October 26, 2020 at the Plenary Courtroom. The petition of case No. 76/PUU-XVIII/2020, was filed by advocate Viktor Santoso Tandiasa.

He challengef Article 23 of the State Ministry Law that reads, “The Minister is prohibited from holding a concurrent position as: a. another state official in accordance with statutory regulations; b. a commissioner or director of a state company or private company; or c. a head of organization financed from the State Budget and/or Regional Budget.”

Also read: Double Positions of Deputy Ministers Challenged Again

In the legal considerations read out by Constitutional Justice Suhartoyo, the Court stated that the Petitioner had only elaborated on his perceived constitutional impairment due to the Government’s implementation of the Constitutional Court Decision No. 80/PUU-XVII/2019, which prohibits deputy ministers from holding concurrent positions, even though he challenged Article 23 of Law No. 39 of 2008.

“According to the Court, the Petitioner’s elaboration of the perceived constitutional impairment was not specifically and actually, or at least potentially, caused by the enactment of Article 23 of Law No. 39 of 2008. [He] only detailed a general loss due to the enactment of the a quo article but not the actual loss that [he] suffered,” Justice Suhartoyo said.

Also read: Influencer Revises Petition Challenging the Double Positions of Deputy Ministers

The Court couldn’t find a causal relationship between the enactment of Article 23 of the State Ministry Law and the Petitioner’s loss of constitutional right as referred to in the 1945 Constitution. The Court was of the opinion that the Petitioner’s status as an influencer that help the public improve their constitutional understanding through social media doesn’t mean that he necessarily has the legal standing in any judicial review petition.

"The Petitioner would’ve had a legal standing if he could explain the logical connection and causal relationship between the violation of his constitutional rights and the enactment of the article being reviewed is in relation [his] status as an influencer and proved real impairment pursuant to Article 51 paragraph (1) of the Constitutional Court Law and the aforementioned Constitutional Court Decisions No.  006/PUU-III/2005 and No. 11/PUU-V/2007. Thus, there is no causal relationship between the Petitioner’s presumed impairment and the article petitioned for review," Justice Suhartoyo said.

In addition, the Constitutional Court Decision No. 151/PUU-VII/2009 states that the petition challenged a law on government organs. "In casu, the State Ministry Law, which regulates the position and affairs of the government; the duties, functions, organizational structure, formation, amendment and dissolution of ministries; the appointments and dismissals, functional relations of ministries and non-ministerial government agencies; and the relations between ministries and local governments. The contents of the articles in Law No. 39 of 2008 bind state administrators/government organs, both at the central and regional levels, and do not bind the general citizens," Justice Suhartoyo explained.

He added that the State Ministry Law can be challenged by citizens if they have a direct or indirect interest on said law. Meanwhile, the Petitioner as an individual citizen, a constitutional lawyer, an activist, and an influencer have neither direct or indirect legal interest in the material contained in Law No. 39 of 2008, especially the a quo article. Therefore, the Court didn’t consider the subject matter of the petition.

Writer: Utami Argawati
Editor: Lulu Anjarsari
PR: Raisa Ayudhita
Translator: Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 10/27/2020 20:14 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.

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