Chief Justice Anwar Usman reading out the Court’s decree for the judicial review of Law No. 2 of 2021 on the Second Amendment to Law No. 21 of 2001 on the Special Autonomy for Papua Province, Monday (10/31/2022). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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Monday, October 31, 2022 | 15:27 WIB

JAKARTA (MKRI)—The Constitutional Court (MK) granted the withdrawal of a material judicial review petition of Law No. 2 of 2021 on the Second Amendment to Law No. 21 of 2001 on the Special Autonomy for Papua Province (Papua Special Autonomy Law) on Monday, October 31, 2022. The Decree No. 99/PUU-XX/2022 was read out by Chief Justice Anwar Usman in the plenary courtroom, with the Petitioner attending virtually.

The chief justice revealed that the Petitioner’s legal counsel had submitted a withdrawal request on October 6, citing reason that the Petitioner had not been prepared. On October 19, the Court received confirmation on the request. At the justice deliberation meeting (RPH) on October 20, the Court determined that the request had been legally reasonable.

“[The Court] grants the withdrawal request of the Petitioner’ petition; declares petition No. 99/PUU-XX/2022 of the material judicial review of Law No. 2 of 2021 on the Second Amendment to Law No. 21 of 2001 on the Special Autonomy for Papua Province (Papua Special Autonomy Law) withdrawn; declares the Petitioner unable to refile the a quo petition; orders the Chief Registrar to record the withdrawal of petition No. 99/PUU-XX/2022 in the electronic constitutional case registration book (e-BRPK) and to return the petition documents to the Petitioner,” said Chief Justice Anwar Usman alongside the other eight constitutional justices.

Also read: BUMN Retiree Withdraws Petition on Papua Special Autonomy Law

BUMN (SOE) retiree Roberth Numberi questioned Article 6 paragraph (1) letter b and paragraphs (2), (3), (4), (5), and (6), which states that the 14 members of the Papuan People’s Representatives’ Council (DPRP) are only appointed and inaugurated by a Decree of the Minister of Home Affairs without the need for an election as mandated by Article 22E paragraph (6) of the 1945 Constitution.

This has been and will be detrimental to the Petitioner currently and when he run as a candidate for DPRP member in 2024, because he would follow the election stages and process in accordance with the mandate of the 1945 Constitution. The Papua Special Autonomy Law, he argued, was not only aimed for indigenous Papuans in Papua, but also to those outside Papua. The Petitioners thus requested the Court to declare Law No. 2 of 2021 on the Second Amendment to Law No. 21 of 2001 on the Special Autonomy for Papua Province not legally binding and unconstitutional.

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

Translation uploaded on 11/1/2022 10:40 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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