Constitutional Justice Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh giving a public lecture at Pelita Harapan University (UPH) of Lippo Plaza Medan, North Sumatera, Saturday (3/4/2023). Photo by MKRI/Hamdi.

---

(MKRI) — Government regulations in lieu of laws (perppu) is an important and interesting topic in constitutional law, especially relating to emergency law, said Constitutional Justice Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh at a public lecture on “The Constitutional Court’s in Reviewing Government Regulations in Lieu of Laws” at Pelita Harapan University (UPH) of Lippo Plaza Medan, North Sumatera on Saturday, March 4, 2023.

Speaking to the attendees on site, Justice Foekh said that the president is granted a constitutional authority by the 1945 Constitution to issue a perppu amid a compelling crisis situation. “This compelled me to research my dissertation, which was then published as a book in 2021,” he said.

He asserted that in line with the Court’s mission to improve the citizens’ constitutional awareness, today’s public lecture would benefit the academics of UPH Medan. “As a lecturer turned constitutional justice, I am happy to be in academic forums. I’ve felt the calling to advance higher education institutions in Indonesia. I pray there will be many local and national leaders, even international ones, graduating from UPH Medan. I hope there will also be constitutional justices from UPH Medan,” he said.

Justice Foekh explained that the Constitutional Court has additional authority to review perppu and resolve disputes over regional election results before the formation of a special body that is tasked to resolve those disputes. Since the Decision No. 138/PUU-VIII/2009, it has not granted or rejected any judicial review petition of perppu. Such petitions have so far been dismissed as the perppu has been approved or disapproved by the House of Representatives (DPR).

“Based on the Constitutional Court Decision No. 138/PUU-VIII/2009, a perppu is needed amid the compelling need to resolve a legal issue swiftly based on legislation—if the legislation has not existed yet, creating a legal vacuum, or it exists but is insufficient, or the legal vacuum cannot be resolved by creating a law using the standard procedure since it would take a long time while the compelling situation requires certain resolution,” he emphasized.

Since 2009 until 2021, Justice Foekh said, 29 judicial review cases against perppu have been decided. “Mostly the Court ruled the case inadmissible, withdrawn, or fell through,” he said.

Amid the development of its jurisdiction, the Constitutional Court is also authorized to resolve disputes over regional election results (PHP Kada), until a special body is formed to do so. These cases, Justice Foekh said, are dynamic, thus needing a special body to deal with them.

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

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.

---