The virtual judicial review hearing of Law No. 14 of 2005 on Teachers and Lecturers, Tuesday (9/28/2021). Photo by Humas MK/Panji.

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Tuesday, September 28, 2021 | 15:37 WIB

JAKARTA, Public Relations—Another judicial review hearing of Law No. 14 of 2005 on Teachers and Lecturers was held by the Constitutional Court (MK) on Tuesday, September 28, 2021. The hearing for petition No. 20/PUU-XIX/2021 had been scheduled to hear the expert for the Petitioner.

“The hearing is supposed to hear the expert for the Petitioner, but because the written statement was submitted not according to the [requirement], which is two days before the hearing, this hearing cannot continue although the Petitioner and the President’s counsel are in attendance, while the [House of Representatives (DPR)] is not,” said plenary chair Chief Justice Anwar Usman after opening the hearing.

Also read: FMIPA Lecturer Challenges Provision on Professorship Appointment

The Court, Justice Anwar added, would like to inform that the University of Indonesia’s request to be a Relevant Party in the case had been granted by the Court.

The Petitioner’s counsel Maqdir Ismail apologized to the Court for the delay of their expert’s written statement. “According to the Court, the Petitioner’s expert’s written statement can be sent via email outside of a workday. Once more we deeply apologize for the inconvenience. We still hope to present our expert, Prof. Dr. Yusril Ihza Mahendra, at the next hearing,” he said. The President will also prepare a maximum of three experts and three witnesses for the next hearing.

The Court decided to schedule one expert each for the Petitioner, the President, and the Relevant Party, to speak at the next hearing, which will take place on Tuesday, November 2, 2021.

Also read:

UI’s FMIPA Lecturer Revises Petition on Professorship Appointment

House and Govt Deem Provision on Professor Appointment Constitutional

Sri Mardiyati challenges Article 50 paragraph (4) of the Teacher and Lecturer Law, which reads, “Further provisions regarding the selection as referred to in paragraph (2) and the appointment and confirmation of certain levels of academic positions as referred to in paragraph (3) shall be determined by each higher education unit in accordance with statutory regulations.”

The Petitioner is a FMIPA (Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences) lecturer of the University of Indonesia (UI). Her last office is lektor kepala (associate professor). The UI rector recommended her appointment as professor to the Minister of Education and Culture in 2019, after a long selection process in UI, including academic paper assessment by a professor of mathematics from Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB). The nomination was denied by the Directorate-General of Higher Education on the ground of the paper not meeting requirements, when UI had already approved of the paper and its validity assessment results.

The Petitioner asserts that under Article 50 paragraph (4) of the a quo law, the appointment and confirmation of certain levels of academic positions, including a professorship, is the authority of the higher education unit or the university or the rector. However, due to the minister-assigned 2019 Operational Guidelines for Credit Score Assessment, such an authority falls on the Directorate General of Higher Education.

The Petitioner believes that is because Article 50 paragraph (4) of the a quo law mentions the phrase that the appointment and confirmation of professors is carried out by each unit following statutory regulations. The phrase is multi-interpretive because the Minister of Education and Culture then issued a regulation that grants himself the authority, which violates the substance or intention of Article 50 paragraph (4). Therefore, in the petitum, the Petitioner requested that the Article 50 paragraph (4) of the a quo law be repealed.

Writer        : Nano Tresna Arfana
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 9/29/2021 13:31 WIB

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

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