The judicial review hearing of Law No. 23 of 2019 on the National Resource Management for State Defense (PSDN Law), Wednesday (2/9/2022). Photo by Humas MK/Bayu.
Wednesday, February 9, 2022 | 15:40 WIB
JAKARTA, Public Relations—Both the state and regional budgets (APBN and APBD) are used in line with the state goal to protect all Indonesian people and to develop the welfare of the people. Both are aimed at the same thing because, in principle, their management are not standalone. As such, they are a unity and aimed optimally at the welfare of the people, said the Government’s/president’s expert Dian Puji N. Simatupang at the judicial review hearing of Law No. 23 of 2019 on the National Resource Management for State Defense (PSDN Law) on Wednesday, February 9, 2022.
The case No. 27/PUU-XIX/2021 was filed by four civil service organizations (CSOs) and three individual citizens. The CSOs are human rights group Inisiatif Masyarakat Partisipatif untuk Transisi Berkeadilan (IMPARSIAL), the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), Kebajikan Publik Indonesia Foundation, the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI). They challenge Article 4 paragraphs (2) and (3), Article 17, Article 18, Article 20 paragraph (1) letter a, Article 28, Article 29, Article 46, Article 66 paragraphs (1) and (2), Article 75, Article 77, Article 78, Article 79, Article 81, and Article 82 of the PSDN Law.
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Simatupang added that the state and regional budgets are the manifestation of the integration of state and regional finances based on the national priority goals. As such, the regional fiscal balance fund is utilized for improving regional national defense capability as long as it is regulated for regional affairs. Meanwhile, funding in the regional budget for the management of state defense and security actually comes from a fixed funding de-concentration scheme from the state budget allocated for the regional budget.
“Therefore, the word ‘funding’ in the a quo law means that the provision of financial resources for the purposes of state defense and security must still take into account the central and regional fiscal balance funds. Thus, the provisions of the a quo law remain based on the region’s fiscal capacity,” said the of state administration law lecturer of the University of Indonesia (UI).
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Recruitment of Civilians
Next, international law professor of the University of Indonesia Hikmahanto Juwana testified on the basis for the formation of the reserve component (komcad) in PSDN Law in international laws. He said the United Nations recognized that war should no longer be in the interests of aggression and expansion because, based on Article 51 of the UN Charter, weapons attacks can occur and the country being attacked has the right to defend itself. The country being attacked does not have to go to war alone, because the UN Security Council will mandate other countries to carry out retaliatory attacks.
This, Hikmanto added, does not imply that there is no war in the modern era. Any country has the right to prepare against potential attacks by other countries. So, there are no provisions of international law governing recruitment to prepare for war. However, civilians can be recruited for war with three options: to become professional soldiers, to become a reserve component, and through mandatory military training in a short period or military conscription.
Meanwhile, the formation of the reserve component, Himanto said, is not against Article 28 of the 1945 Constitution. The state must do it to prepare the community in case of disturbances to state security. “So, the government and the House have adhered to the principles in preparing the rights of citizens in state defense and security,” he explained.
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The Petitioners asserted that Article 4 paragraphs (2) and (3) and Article 29 of the PSDN Law had created legal uncertainty, thus violating Article 1 paragraph (3), Article 28D paragraph (1), and Article 30 paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution. The legal uncertainty due to these articles mutatis mutandis has also led to the ambiguity of Article 29 of the PSDN Law, which regulates the mobilization of reserve component against military and hybrid threats. Meanwhile, Article 7 paragraph (2) of Law No. 3 of 2002 on State Defense, has explicitly provided limitations of reserve component and supporting components that can only be mobilized against military threats.
As such, Article 17, Article 28, Article 66 paragraph (2), Article 79, Article 81, and Article 82 of the PSDN Law violate Article 28G paragraph (1), Article 28H paragraph (4), and Article 30 paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution.
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They also believe that that the mention of natural resources, artificial resources, as well as national facilities and infrastructure as supporting components and reserve component in those articles had obscured the meaning of the main power and supporting power as referred to in Article 30 paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution, when the article’s norm is limiting in nature.
The Petitioners also argued that Article 18, Article 66 paragraph (1), Article 77, Article 78, and Article 79 of the PSDN Law in violation of Article 28E paragraph (2) and Article 30 paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution in relation conscientious objection (the people’s right to refuse on the grounds of moral or religious principles), which are cardinal principles in the involvement of civilians in state defense, which is acknowledged by many countries and the international communities, as well as part of the international human rights law.
Writer : Sri Pujianti
Editor : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR : M. Halim
Translator : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)
Translation uploaded on 2/9/2022 19:02 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.
Wednesday, February 09, 2022 | 15:40 WIB 241