Petition revision hearing of the judicial review of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections, Wednesday (1/26/2022). Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

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Wednesday, January 26, 2022 | 19:39 WIB

JAKARTA, Public Relations—The revision hearing of the judicial review of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections for the petition by Musa Darwin Pane was held by the Constitutional Court (MK) on Wednesday, January 26, 2022.

The Petitioner of case No. 1/PUU-XX/2022 affirmed his argument that Article 21 paragraph (1) letter b and Article 117 paragraph (1) letter b of the Election Law, which require that a KPU member be at least 40 years old, had violated the principle of equality before the law.

When the Petitioner entered the KPU member selection, Article 11 letter b and Article 85 letter b of Law No. 15 of 2004 stressed that the age limit for candidates of KPU RI and Bawaslu RI [members] are at least 35 years old for the central KPU and/or Bawaslu, while at the province and regency/city at least 30 years old. Therefore, he believes them to be discriminatory.

“Musa Darwin Pane as the Petitioner—an advocate, a lecturer, and a young professional—believe that according to the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, he has equal rights before the law,” said legal counsel Sahat Maruli T. Situmeang before the panel chaired by Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra.

He also revealed that the Petitioner had entered the selection of the General Elections Commission (KPU) RI of 2022-2027, as proven by the registration receipt CP-KPU-00306. The Petitioner, he said, has direct interest in the amendment to Law No. 15 of 2011 on the Implementation of the General Elections and Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections, especially Article 21 paragraph (1) letter b and Article 117 paragraph (1) letter b petitioned for review.

He also explained the revision of the posita. “We added juridical, philosophical, and sociological bases,” said another legal counsel, Ucok Rolando P. Tamba.

Also read: Minimum Age Limits for KPU and Bawaslu Members Questioned

At the preliminary hearing, the Petitioner argued for the parameter of constitutional impairment. The Constitutional Court in the Decisions No. 006/PUU-III/2005 and 011/PUU-V/2007 had ruled that constitutional impairment must meet five requirements: the Petitioner’s constitutional right and/or authority granted by the 1945 Constitution, which is deemed to have been impaired by a law; the impairment must specific, actual, or potential, which according to logical reasoning is inevitable; there must be a causal relationship between the perceived loss and the enactment of the norm being petitioned.

The Petitioner believes that Article 21 paragraph (1) letter b and Article 117 paragraph (1) letter b of the Election Law is discriminatory, so it restricted the Petitioner’s constitutional right to be acknowledged as an individual before the law [and] as an academic and professional under 40 years to become KPU and Bawaslu member. Meanwhile, the age limit of 35 years for KPU and/or Bawaslu member candidates has been reviewed based on the Constitutional Court Decision No. 102/PUU-XIV/2016 dated March 12, 2017, where the age limit of at least 35 years old for KPU and/or Bawaslu [members] is constitutional. However, the Government, in this case the president and the House/DPR changed it to 40 years in the Election Law.

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

Translation uploaded on 01/27/2022 11:38 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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