Constitutional Justices Suhartoyo and Saldi Isra giving a public lecture on “The Constitutional Court and Its Procedural Laws,” Friday (11/11/2022) at the State Islamic Institute of Pontianak, West Kalimantan. Photo by MKRI.

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Friday, November 11, 2022 | 22:36 WIB

JAKARTA (MKRI)—Constitutional Justices Saldi Isra and Suhartoyo delivered a public lecture on “The Constitutional Court and Its Procedural Laws” on Friday, November 11, 2022 at the State Islamic Institute (IAIN) of Pontianak, West Kalimantan. The event was collaboration between the Constitutional Court (MK) and IAIN Pontianak.

Justice Saldi said the Constitutional Court is important for checks and balances between state institutions. “The constitution is usually drafted by a separate organ, or a type of legislature of a higher position,” he said before the dean of the Sharia Faculty and the academic society of IAIN Muhammad Hasan of Pontianak.

He said that any legislation in any country, be it a unitary state, a federation, a presidential or parliamentary state, is made by a political institution by involving the executive and legislative branches. Therefore, another institution is required to oversee the product by the executive and legislative.

“Who exercises that? The executor of the judicial power. In the US, it is the Supreme Court. In Indonesia, we have two institutions. Referring to Article 24 of the Judiciary Law, the judicial power is exercised by the Supreme Court and the courts under it and by a Constitutional Court,” he explained.

He said that the Constitution mandated the Constitutional Court to control legislation made by the legislatures, in this case the House of Representatives (DPR) and the president. However, the agreement between the executive and the legislative might harm the citizens’ interest.

“Therefore, another branch [of state power] was made to correct that. In our system, this is done by the Constitutional Court,” he added. 

Constitutional Court’s Procedural Laws

Justice Suhartoyo said that even if we have the truth, without understanding the procedural law, we cannot achieve victory.

“However great a legal drafter is, when a law that is problematic is not petitioned with good understanding of the procedural law, it cannot be corrected by the Constitutional Court,” he said.

He then explained two models of judicial review in the Constitutional Court. Formal judicial review concerns the lawmaking process and matters outside of the material review. Meanwhile, material judicial review concerns the content of articles, paragraphs, or part of laws that are deemed in conflict with the 1945 Constitution.

He added that individual citizens, customary law communities, private and public legal entities, as well as state institutions can file a petition to the Constitutional Court. They can be assisted or represented by legal counsels or proxies, who do not have to be advocates but must be familiar with the procedural law in the Constitutional Court and able to assist the litigants after submitting a letter to the Court. This is to facilitate access to justice for those who cannot afford advocates.

He also explained the format of a judicial review petition: the petitioner’s profile, the Court’s authority, the petitioner’s legal standing, the posita, and the petitum. The petition can be filed online or in person.

Writer        : Utami Argawati
Editor        : Nur R.
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 11/14/2022 10:29 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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