The Petitioners attending at the preliminary judicial review hearing of Law No. 3 of 2022 on the State Capital virtually, Tuesday (4/19/2022). Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

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Tuesday, April 19, 2022 | 15:36 WIB

JAKARTA, Public Relations—The Law No. 3 of 2022 on the State Capital (IKN Law) was challenged again formally in the Constitutional Court (MK). The case No. 49/PUU-XX/2022 was filed by S. M. Phiodias Marthias, a retired employee of PT Chevron Pacific Indonesia. The preliminary hearing for the case was chaired by Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat on Tuesday, April 19, 2022 in the plenary courtroom.

The Petitioner, who attended the hearing virtually, emphasized his constitutional rights because of the Government’s four main tasks and functions to protect the all Indonesian people and the entire land of Indonesia and to develop the welfare of the people, the life of the nation, and to participate in world order based on freedom, eternal peace, and social justice as referred to in the 4th paragraph of the Preamble to the 1945 Constitution.

“There will be a potential decrease in the quality of the Government’s four main tasks and functions and in the revision I will mention it as a primary constitutional impairment (due to the enactment of the State Capital Law),” he explained.

Marthias believed the IKN Law could potentially disrupt the nation’s future or at least reduce the quality of the state government’s four main tasks and functions, which he believed is real and has occurred.

In his petition, the Petitioner said that the IKN Law could potentially burden the nation’s future because the considerations in its formation did not take into account the need to strengthen the foundation of the nation’s intellectual development.

He also asserted that the nation’s fundamental challenges, especially related to intellectual development, was currently not in accordance with the principles of usability and effectiveness.

The Petitioner believed that in the absence of driving factors of the nation’s development, the analysis of the state capital relocation would be limited and, in fact, potentially hide risks that could endanger the nation. He illustrated that several years prior to the 1998 crisis, government officials were talking about the take-off slogan. It was a sign that they were not aware of the risks that endangered the nation.

The Petitioner made a worst estimate of the impacts of the development of the state capital for the nation’s future: a result of limited funding, state finances could grow uncontrolled since the project is not supposed to be capital expenditures but consumption expenditures and unexpected emergency conditions could occur, foreign investment could negatively affect state sovereignty, and budget for education could be reduced.

The Petitioner quoted the basic assumptions of the vision of the new state capital as a sustainable world city and a driving force for the economy in the future (in Article 2 letters a and b). Given the limited development of professionalism in the country, this vision is not feasible in the context of present and future sustainability.

In the petitum, the Petitioner requested that the Court declare the IKN Law not meeting lawmaking provisions, unconstitutional, and not legally binding.

Justices’ Advice

Responding to the petition, Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbaningsih advised the Petitioner to improve its format and summarize it.

“So, Mr. Phiodias’ request could actually be more concise. There are many things that don’t need to be brought up here, sir,” she said. She also suggested that the Petitioner classify his expertise associated with the constitutional impairment.

Meanwhile, Constitutional Justice Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh asked the Petitioner to revise the petition following the Constitutional Court Regulation (PMK) No. 2 of 2021 and not to include background of the problem, the approach to the problem, and conclusion.

Next, Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat (panel chair) informed the Petitioner that he would have 14 workdays to revise the petition. However, he added, on account of the Government’s announcement of joint leave, the revised petition should be received by the Court no later than Monday, May 9, 2022.

Writer        : Utami Argawati
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR            : Fitri Yuliana
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 4/20/2022 10:42 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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