One of the Petitioners, Eliadi Hulu, at the judicial review hearing of the Law No. 6 of 2014 on Villages, Wednesday (3/1/2023). Photo by MKRI/Panji.

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Wednesday, March 1, 2023 | 12:27 WIB

JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) held another material judicial review hearing of Article 39 paragraphs (1) and (2) of Law No. 6 of 2014 on Villages on Wednesday, March 1, 2023. The petition No. 15/PUU-XXI/2023 was filed by Eliadi Hulu, a resident of Ononamolo Tumula Village, Alasa Subdistrict, North Nias Regency. The petition revision hearing took place in the plenary courtroom, with Constitutional Justices Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh (chair), Enny Nurbaningsih, and Arief Hidayat presiding.

Virtually, Eliadi Hulu conveyed the revisions to the petition. He said he had clarified the article he petitioned and added 11 more petitioners, now totaling 12. “There were 12 additional petitioners, who were then eliminated to only 7. We have elaborated the legal standing of each petitioner, who are villagers whose village chiefs were elected. There are several whose village chiefs were appointed by regents or mayors,” he said.

He also stressed that there were no comparison of reviews or academic considerations. “So that there are no discrepancy between one law and another relating to villages or in the revision of the Village Law of 2014, we kept to Article 7 of the Constitution, which is the basic norm that applies in Indonesia,” he explained.

Also read: Provision on Tenure of Village Heads Challenged

At the preliminary hearing on site at the Court, the Petitioner asserted that the enactment of Article 39 of the Village Law, which grant village heads a tenure of 6 years per term, had caused him constitutional impairment. He alleged that if he wanted to run as a village head, he would have to wait for six years. If the village head elected in his village did not show good leadership and management nor were they competent or capable in the six-year tenure, which would hinder the development and advancement of villages, or lead to hardships among the villagers, he still would have to wait for six years until the vacancy opens.

He argued that the tenure regulation in Article 39 of the Village Law would lead to regression of democracy in the village. Villagers, he said, democracy manifests in elections. He argued that a better provision would encourage villagers to keep participating actively in village activities as they have a sense of belonging to the village election.

Therefore, in his petitum, the Petitioner requested that the Court declare Article 39 paragraph (1) of the Village Law unconstitutional and not legally binding as long as it is not interpreted “The village head shall hold office for 5 (five) years from the date of their inauguration” and “The village head as referred to in paragraph (1) can serve for a maximum of 2 (two) terms, either consecutively or non-consecutively.” consecutively.” 

Author       : Utami Argawati
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR            : Fitri Yuliana
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 3/3/2023 09:00 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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