The judicial review hearing of Law No. 1 of 2023 on the Criminal Code (KUHP) for case No. 10/PUU-XXI/2023, Monday (2/20/2023). Photo by MKRI/Ilham W. M.

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Monday, February 20, 2023 | 15:35 WIB

JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) held another material judicial review hearing of Articles 256, 603, and 604 of Law No. 1 of 2023 on the Criminal Code (KUHP) on Monday, February 20, 2023 in the panel courtroom. The petition No. 10/PUU-XXI/2023 was filed by Andi Redani Suryanata and 19 other university students.

At the petition revision hearing, before Constitutional Justices Constitutional Justice Suhartoyo, Enny Nurbaningsih, and Arief Hidayat, Andi Redani Suryanata conveyed the revisions to the elaboration of the Court’s jurisdiction, the Petitioners’ legal standing and their constitutional impairment, the background to the petition, and the petitum.

“Point 8: although the enactment of the a quo Law only starts three years after the promulgation, it should not hold the Court back from adjudicating the petition since it is a law that can serve as an object in the Court,” he said.

He compared the case to that of the Juvenile Justice Law, which the Court reviewed despite it only being in effect two years after its promulgation. The fact remained that the law was promulgated and could be an object of review by the Constitutional Court.

“Therefore, under the same rationale, without questioning the implementation of the Law, the Court must also review [the Law] and adjudicate the a quo petition. The delay of implementation for three years serves to communicate the new KUHP to all elements of society as the Government, in this case [through] the Minister of Law and Human Rights Yasonna Laoly, stated to Kompas [newspaper]. The dissemination is aimed at keeping the implementation of the KUHP effective and to prevent misinterpretation,” he added.

As such, he said, the Court as the guardian and interpreter of the Constitution has the duty to ensure that legislative pieces do not go against the 1945 Constitution. If any article in the Criminal Code is declared unconstitutional, it will be communicated to the public to prevent misinterpretation and incorrect implementation.

Andi said it would be funny that despite the dissemination, after the Law is in effect three years later, the article was declared unconstitutional by the Court and then annulled. The dissemination would only be a waste of budget.

“Secondly, this dissemination, would be ineffective and would confuse the people if the norm in the a quo Law was then declared by the Court after three years. So, it is now during the dissemination that the Court starts adjudicating articles in the new KUHP,” he stressed.

Also read: Constitutionality of Provisions in New Criminal Code Challenged

At the preliminary hearing on February 7, Andi Redani Suryanata, one of the petitioners, said virtually that the Petitioners are expressly against corruption, including in university environment. They believe the fight against corruption in Indonesia is futile and restricted because the legal system has created weaknesses in the eradication of corruption and because criminal sanctions for corruption in the new Criminal Code are weak.

As students, the Petitioners have also protested against problematic policies such as the problematic articles in the a quo case. They are worried that the enactment of the articles would sow fear in anyone who wishes to join a protest for fear of prosecution under those articles. Therefore, they requested that the Court annul the articles petitioned.

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

Translation uploaded on 2/24/2023 09:24 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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