Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra chairing the panel hearing of the material judicial review of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections, Thursday (1/19/2022). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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Thursday, January 19, 2023 | 15:06 WIB

JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) held the preliminary hearing of Article 169 letter n and Article 227 letter i of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections on Thursday, January 19, 2023. The petition No. 4/PUUXXI/2023 was filed by Herifuddin Daulay, who conveyed virtually that his constitutional rights had been violated by the enactment of Article 7 of the 1945 Constitution on restriction to two terms of office for the president.

“The impairment is based on [my] assumption that very few people have the competency for the position of a president, so the restriction would lead to elected [president] that does not have competency,” he said before panel chair Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra.

The Petitioner also believes that Article 7 of the 1945 Constitution has been formulated incorrectly or misinterpreted to be conditionally constitutional.

He argued that the article is ambiguous and an additional provision is needed to affirm the norm, so that it would read “re-elected for two terms if necessary, either without any specific measure or through the Constitutional Court’s decision.”

The Petitioner argued that the additional norms, Article 169 letter n and Article 227 letter i of the Election Law, serve as the basis for the restriction on the reelection of the president, which he believes to be counterintuitive and, thus, must be annulled. In the petitum, he requested that the Court declare Article 169 letter n and Article 227 letter i of the Election Law unconstitutional and not legally binding.

Justices’ Advice

In response, Constitutional Justice Wahiduddin Adams advised the Petitioner to study petitions that the Court granted and to explain his legal standing. “After you explain the requirements, explain your constitutional impairment. The background is to lengthy because the reason is mentioned one by one. In addition, in the background it seems as if you wish not for the law, but for the Constitution, to be reviewed. You have to mention the touchstone [by comparing] the articles to articles in the 1945 Constitution,” he said.

Meanwhile, Constitutional Justice Suhartoyo advised the Petitioner to explain his legal standing. “Your status as a taxpaying individual citizen with the right to vote with the argument of constitutional impairment due to Article 7 must be explained,” he said.

Before concluding the session, Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra informed the Petitioner that he had 14 workdays to revise the petition. “Submit the revised petition to the Court no later than Wednesday, February 1, 2023 at 11:00 WIB,” he said. 

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

Translation uploaded on 1/19/2023 18:29 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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