Chief Justice Anwar Usman reading out the decree for the judicial review of Law No. 18 of 2003 on Advocates, Thursday (9/29/2022). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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Thursday, September 29, 2022 | 13:25 WIB

JAKARTA (MKRI)—The Constitutional Court (MK) granted the withdrawal of the material judicial review of Article 28 paragraph (3) of Law No. 18 of 2003 on Advocates by Zico Leonard Djagardo Simanjuntak at the ruling hearing on Thursday, September 29, 2022. The preliminary hearing for case No. 79/PUU-XX/2022 had taken place on Monday, August 29, 2022, initially at 13:30 WIB then delayed until 14:00 WIB.

The Court had also duly summoned the Petitioner through a letter by the Chief Registrar No. 388.79/PUU/ PAN.MK/PS/08/2022 on August 18. The Court’s summons officer had received confirmation from the Petitioner that he would attend the hearing.

However, Chief Justice Anwar Usman said, the Petitioner notified the summons officer through a WhatsApp message that he was indisposed and requested that the case be dismissed.

“Because of the fact in question, following Article 41 paragraphs (4) and (5) of the Constitutional Court Regulation No. 2 of 2021 on the Procedural Law for Judicial Review Cases, and in order to meet the principles of simple, swift, and cost-effective proceedings, the Petitioner’s petition must be dismissed.

Also read: Petitioner Absent, Hearing for Advocate Law Postponed

In the petition, the Petitioner asserted that chairman of the bar association had massive influence on advocates and prospective advocates, for example on advocate professional training, bar exam, advocate identity card, appointment, supervision, and dismissal, as well as the advocate’s code of ethics and code of conduct. Such influence requires limitation of term in order to prevent abuse of power.

In the petitum, the Petitioner requested that the Court declare Article 28 paragraph (3) of the Advocate Law unconstitutional and not legally binding if interpreted to mean “The Chairman of Advocates Organization shall hold office for a maximum of 2 (two) terms and may not be re-elected for the same office and may not hold a position of the chief of a political party concurrently, both in central and regional levels.”

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

Translation uploaded on 10/14/2022 15:29 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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