Constitutional Court hearing three cases of the proliferation of Papua Province by E. Ramos Patege, Wednesday (9/28/2022). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

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Wednesday, September 28, 2022 | 15:52 WIB

JAKARTA (MKRI)—Three laws on the proliferation of Papua Province, enacted only since July 25, 2022, were challenged formally in the Constitutional Court (MK). They are Law No. 14 of 2022 on the Establishment of South Papua, Law No. 15 of 2022 on the Establishment of Central Papua, and Law No. 16 of 2022 on the Establishment of Papua Highlands. The petition No. 92/PUU-XX/2022 was filed by E. Ramos Patege.

The preliminary hearing for this case was held on Wednesday, September 28, 2022 in the plenary courtroom and presided over by Chief Justice Anwar Usman (chair) and Constitutional Justices Saldi Isra and Suhartoyo.. However, Patege was not present at the trial.

Deputy Chief Justice Aswanto said the Registrar’s Office had contacted the Petitioner. However, until the hearing took place, neither the Petitioner nor his legal counsel was present.

“The litigants have been duly summoned. However, the Petitioners is not present. So, this session is complete and closed,” he said.

The Petitioner argued that the Papuan People's Assembly (MRP) as the cultural representation of the Papuan Indigenous People (OAP) should have been involved in the formation of the three laws because when the Government intends to make any changes or a development in any area, studies and opinions from local communities are necessary.

In April 2022, the MRP’s chairperson gave four reasons for the MRP to ask for the suspension of the Bills on the Establishment of the Provinces of South Papua, Central Papua, and Papua Highlands. One of the reasons is that the formation of the new autonomous regions was carried out using a centralized top-down approach, which has eliminated the participation of the people who would be affected directly by the formation of the three laws. For this reason, in the petition, the Petitioners requested that the Court declare the three laws unconstitutional. 

Writer          : Lulu Anjarsari P.
Editor          : Nur R.
PR              : Andhini S. F.
Translator    : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 10/14/2022 10:07 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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