Deputy Chief Justice Aswanto speaking at a Special Education of Professional Advocate (PKPA) Batch XII organized by the Sharia and Law Faculty of UIN Alauddin (Makassar) virtually, Saturday (14/11/2020) from the Jakarta. Photo by Humas MK/Gani.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—In accordance with the vision to create a modern judiciary, substance takes precedence in the petitions in the Constitutional Court, so the petitioner may file it without a legal representative. Basically, the petition model is very simple, said Deputy Chief Justice Aswanto at a Special Education of Professional Advocate (PKPA) Batch XII organized by the Sharia and Law Faculty of the State Islamic University (UIN) Alauddin (Makassar) on Saturday, November 14, 2020.

In his presentation entitled “Litigating in the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia,” Justice Aswanto said that despite its simple format, many petitioners were not aware of their legal standing in a judicial review case. “Because [the legal standing] is not elaborated comprehensively, many petitions have been dismissed or rejected,” he said at the event which was organized under the collaboration with the Association of Indonesian Advocates (Peradi).

In addition, Justice Aswanto said, the posita or background of the petition should be paid attention to. In this section, the petitioner can elaborate their legal standing by building arguments based on juridical, philosophical, and sociological theories, so that the causal relationship with their legal standing will be clear.

He then talked about the difference between material and formal judicial review. Material judicial review is related to the content of articles, paragraphs, or part of laws that are deemed in conflict with the 1945 Constitution. Meanwhile, formal judicial review is related to lawmaking process, which is limited up to 45 days after the law is promulgated in the State Gazette.

He also said that the Constitutional Court decisions must be pronounced as they legally bind all citizens, not only the litigants. “As a judicial body that rule at the first and final level, the Constitutional Court’s decisions are final and erga omnes (towards all),” he stressed.

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

Translation uploaded on 11/17/2020 16:41 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.