Substitute registrar Mardian Wibowo speaking at the virtual constitution awareness program for citizens (PPHKWN) for Formasi Disabilitas virtually, Thursday (7/14/2022). Photo by Humas MK/Teguh.

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Thursday, July 14, 2022 | 17:10 WIB

JAKARTA, Public Relations—The constitution awareness program for citizens (PPHKWN) for the inclusive forum for persons with disabilities Forum Masyarakat Pemantau Untuk Indonesia Inklusif Disabilitas (Formasi Disabilitas) continued on the third day on Thursday, July 14, 2022. Two of the Constitutional Court substitute registrars, Mardian Wibowo and Saiful Anwar, spoke at the event.

Mardian talked about “The Constitutional Court and the Procedural Law for Judicial Review of Laws.” He began his presentation by explaining the history of the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court is a constitutional judicial authority that serves to guard the Constitution by ensuring that it be implemented as the supreme law.

“The Constitutional Court is one of the results of the 1998 Reform, which overthrew the New Order. One of the demands of the 1998 Reform was to amend the 1945 Constitution to ensure strict limitations of power. The amendment was carried out in four stage in 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002. One of the things that emerged in the amendment to the 1945 Constitution was the establishment of the Constitutional Court,” he said.

Also read: Chief Justice: Persons with Disabilities Part of All Indonesians

Legal Basis for Judicial Review

Mardian explained the Constitutional Court was founded on August 13, 2004, the same day as the promulgation of Law No. 24 of 2003 on the Constitutional Court. It has four authorities and one obligation: reviewing laws against the Constitution, deciding on authority disputes between state institutions, deciding on the dissolution of political parties, and deciding on disputes over general election results, and deciding on the House’s opinion on an alleged violation of law committed by the president and/or vice president according to the Constitution.

He added that the legal basis for judicial review of laws is Article 24C paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution, which reads, “The Constitutional Court shall have the authority to make final decisions in cases of first and last instance to review laws against the Constitution….”

The Constitution is the legal basis or the supreme legal regulation in Indonesia, which means that laws (UU) must not violate the 1945 Constitution. The purpose of judicial review is to ensure that there are no laws that contradict the 1945 Constitution.

Mardian also said that it is important to understand the subjects or litigants in a judicial review case, what the object is, the deadline, and the touchstones.

Also read: Guarantee of Special Treatment for Persons with Diffability

Drafting Judicial Review Petition

Next, Saiful Anwar discussed “Drafting a Judicial Review Petition.” He explained that a judicial review case only has one party, and the object is the norm of the law. There is a petitioner but no respondent or opposing party.

He also explained the parties in a judicial review case: the petitioner, the testifiers, and the relevant party. All three can be represented by a legal counsel based on a special power of attorney and/or accompanied by an assistant based on a certificate.

A petitioner is the party who feels their constitutional rights and/or authorities have been impaired by the enactment of a law. They could be individual Indonesian citizens or groups of people who have the same interests, customary law communities that live in accordance with the principles of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) as regulated by law, public or private legal entities, as well as state institutions.

Saiful also explained that the Court may request information and/or minutes of meetings relating to the petition being from the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), the House, the Regional Representatives Council (DPD), and/or the president. A written testimony should at least contain a clear explanation of the facts that occurred during the discussion and of the law or perppu being petitioned or the minutes of the meeting, as well as other matters the Court or the testifier deemed necessary.

“The relevant party is a party with direct and/or indirect interests in the subject matter of the petition. Those with direct interest are parties whose rights and/or authorities are directly affected by the subject matter of the petition. Relevant parties with indirect interests are those whose rights, authorities, and/or interests are not directly affected by the subject matter of the petition but are moved due to their concern for the petition,” Saiful said.

After the presentations, the participants practiced drafting a judicial review petition. They were divided into separate groups to draft it, then they did so independently.

Writer          : Nano Tresna Arfana
Editor         : Nur R.
Translator    : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 7/25/2022 12:06 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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