Constitutional Justice Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh speaking at the special education for professional advocates by Pelita Harapan University, Medan, Saturday (8/6/2021). Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

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Saturday, August 6, 2022 | 18:23 WIB

JAKARTA—Constitutional Justice Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh delivered a presentation on “The Procedural Law of the Constitutional Court” at the special education for professional advocates (PKPA) of Pelita Harapan University, Medan, North Sumatera virtually on Saturday, August 6, 2022.

The justice explained that the material was one of the mandatory materials in the PKPA curriculum. Prospective advocates, who would become professionals, he said, need to understand how to draft a good petition, the stages of the proceedings, how to build arguments, etc.

“This is crucial because litigating in the Constitutional Court is different from that in other courts under the Supreme Court,” he said.

Justice Foekh said the Constitutional Court has a mission to improve constitutional awareness among the citizens and state administrators. “I believe today’s program is part of the effort to improve citizens’ constitutional awareness, including among prospective advocates who have noble role in law enforcement,” he stressed.

He further explained that Article 24 paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution stipulates that the judicial power is exercise by a Supreme Court and judicial bodies thereunder within a general judicature, religious court, military court, state administration court, and by a Constitutional Court.

“There are two judicial institutions in Indonesia: the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court. This generally applies in countries with the parliamentary and presidential systems but [Indonesia’s] similar to that in the parliamentary system,” he said.

Article 2 of the Constitutional Court Law, he added, stipulates that the Constitutional Court is one of the state institutions that exercises independent judicial power to administer a court for upholding law and justice. This is the foundation for the Constitutional Court in the Constitution.

Justice Foekh also explained the Court’s authorities and obligation. The Court’s authorities include adjudicating laws against the Constitution, deciding the dissolution of political parties, and settling disputes over general election results. Its obligation is deciding on the House’s opinion on an alleged violation of law committed by the president and/or vice president, which could result in impeachment.

The Court was also granted an additional authority by the Constitutional Court decision to review government regulations in lieu of laws (perppu).

“This is contained in the Constitutional Court Decision No. 138/PUU-VII/2009. In the legal considerations, the Court asserts that it is authorized to review perppu. This relates to the object of judicial review petition: laws and perppu. This is reiterated in Article 2 paragraph (1) of the Constitutional Court Regulation No. 2 of 2021,” Justice Foekh explained.

Another additional authority granted to the Court is settling the results of regional head election disputes until a special judicial body is established.

“As we know, this authority to review regional election disputes was first granted to courts under the Supreme Court, and then was transferred to the Constitutional Court. In order to avoid doubt, legal ambiguity, and the absence of institution authorized to settle regional head election disputes because no law has regulated it, the [authority] stays with the Constitutional Court,” Justice Foekh explained.

In the Q&A session, a participant asked about the dissolution of political parties. Asked if the Court had ruled on such a case, Justice Foekh answered that the Court had not. He added that the procedure for such a case is different from that for other types of cases. The Court must settle cases on the dissolution of a political party within 60 workdays. Only the Government can petition for such a case. “The Petitioner is the Government, which can be represented by the attorney general and/or minister assigned by the president,” he added.

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

Translation uploaded on 8/9/2022 10:17 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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