The petition revision hearing of the judicial review of the Village Law petitioned by village chiefs and village apparatuses, Monday (2/7/2022). Photo by Humas MK/Ilham W. M.

---

Monday, February 7, 2022 | 19:33 WIB

JAKARTA, Public Relations—The Constitutional Court (MK) held another judicial review hearing of Law No. 6 of 2014 on Village on Monday, February 7, 2022. The case No. 3/PUU-XX/2022 was filed by Endang Kusnandar, Mohammad Abdurrahman, Akhib Musadad, and other village chiefs from several regions in Indonesia.

At this second hearing, legal counsel Denny Ardiansyah relayed the revisions to the petition. First, the Petitioners limited the focus from 24 articles to only 3 articles: Articles 25, 39, and 48. They believe those articles were in violation of Article 18 paragraphs (2) and (6) as well as Article 28D paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution. Second, the number of petitioners was reduced from 12 to 7—6 village chiefs and 1 village apparatus.

“We believe Article 48 of the Village Law is against Article 18 paragraphs (2) and (6) as well as Article 28D paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution becausethe provisions stipulated in the article should be regulated in a regional regulation (perda) because village officials and some of the positions of village officials are not covered by the law,” Denny explained before Constitutional Justices Enny Nurbaningsih (panel chair), Wahiduddin Adams, and Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh.

Also read: Not Differentiating Between Regular and Customary Villages, Village Law Challenged

The Petitioners asserted that the reconstructed Village Law did not differentiate between a regular village and a customary (adat) one when, in fact, a customary village has customary influences on the local governments, the management of resources, and the social life of the people. The Petitioners believed the Village Law had misinterpreted the village’s position and made all villages administrative ones.

The Petitioners also argued that the election of village chiefs were regulated to a limited degree that villages lost their distinct characteristics in the democratic model. They also challenged the provision of the dismissal of village chiefs and the normative regulation of village apparatus, which led to confusion in villages that did not recognize such positions.

Writer        : Sri Pujianti
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR            : Raisa Ayuditha
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 2/8/2022 10:16 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.

---