The Petitioner’s legal counsel Francine Widjojo explaining the petition revisions at the panel hearing of the material judicial review hearing of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections, Wednesday (5/3/2023). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) held another judicial review hearing of Article 169 letter q of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections for case No. 29/PUU-XXI/2023 filed by the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) and several individual petitioners, on Wednesday, May 3, 2023.

At this petition revision hearing, through Francine Widjojo, the Petitioners conveyed the revisions to the petition, such as the addition of Government Regulation in Lieu of Law (Perppu) No. 1 of 2022, which had been promulgated in the DPR (House of Representatives) plenary session in 2022, as an object to the petition. They also asserted the legal standing of Petitioner I relating to a political that did not pass the administrative requirements and Petitioners II to V who are individual citizens who had not run in the presidential election.

“There is not explanation for the criteria of an ideal, mature leader, the age requirement of 40 years old for presidential and vice-presidential tickets, and the reason to explain that anyone under 40 years old is not stable. This basis to support the limit of 35 years old is not strong. The age range of 36 to 40 is where ones assume bigger social roles and expand their professional qualification. Based on IPAK (anti-corruption behavior index), people under 40 have lower risk of committing corruption than those above 40,” Widjojo said before Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra (panel chair) and Constitutional Justices Arief Hidayat and Manahan M. P. Sitompul.

Also read: PSI Requests Presidential Tickets Be at Least 35 Years Old

The case No. 29/PUU-XXI/2023 was filed by the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI), Anthony Winza Probowo, Danik Eka Rahmaningtyas, Dedek Prayudi, and Mikhail Gorbachev (Petitioners I-V). They challenge Article 169 letter q of the Election Law reads, “Requirements that must be fulfilled by a Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidate are as follows: at least 40 (forty) years of age.”

At the preliminary hearing on Monday, April 3, through Francine Widjojo, the Petitioners asserted that the Petitioners were currently thirty-five years old and requested that the lowest age limit for presidential tickets be set at thirty-five with the assumptions that they had enough experience to run in the election. They argued that the norm was discriminatory and against moral and rational values and in violation of Article 28D paragraph (3) of the 1945 Constitution.

“While in principle, the state provides the nation’s youth with the opportunity to lead the nation and offers the widest opportunity so that the best candidates of the nation can run in the election. Therefore, the object of the petition is a discriminatory provision since it violates moral [values]. When the Indonesian people are forced to only choose leaders that meet a discriminatory requirement, this leads to injustice for the Indonesian people and the selected [candidates],” Widjojo said before Constitutional Justices Saldi Isra, Arief Hidayat, and Manahan M. P. Sitompul.

Therefore, the Petitioners requested that the Court grant the entire petition and declare Article 169 letter q of the Election Law unconstitutional and not legally binding if not interpreted as “at least 35 (thirty-five) years of age.”

Author       : Sri Pujianti
Editor        : Nur R.
PR            : Tiara Agustina
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.

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