Preliminary hearing of the material judicial review of Law No. 2 of 2008 on Political Parties, Monday (5/29/2023). Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) held a preliminary hearing of the material judicial review of Law No. 2 of 2011 on the Amendment to Law No. 2 of 2008 on Political Parties on Tuesday, May 30, 2023. The hearing for case No. 53/PUU-XXI/2023 was presided over by Constitutional Justices Suhartoyo (chair), Wahiduddin Adams, and M. Guntur Hamzah.

Muhammad Helmi Fahrozi, E. Ramos Petege, and Leonardus O. Magai (Petitioners I-III) through legal counsel Aldo Pratama Amry argue that Article 2 paragraph (1) letter b of the Political Party Law was unconstitutional. The norm reads, “The founder and the executive members of a political party shall not be the concurrent member of another political party.” The constitutional rights of the Petitioners, who have turned 17 and wish to be political party members, will be violated because there is no restriction or prohibition for political party chairperson against serving as a chairperson continuously. They also argue that they will lose the right to become executive members of political parties since the party’s chairperson will prioritize people close to them. This, they argue, will lead to party dynasties.

“Based on these reasons, the Petitioners request that the Court declare Article 2 paragraph (1) letter b of the Political Party Law unconstitutional and not legally binding insofar as not interpreted to mean ‘The executive members of a political party shall serve for 5 (five) years and can only be reelected 1 (one) time for the same position, either consecutively or not, and the founder and the executive members of a political party shall be prohibited from being a member of another political party,” Aldo said reading one of the Petitioners’ petitums in person in the panel courtroom.

Justices’ Advice

In response, Constitutional Justice Wahiduddin Adams advised the Petitioners to study the petition format following the latest Constitutional Court regulation (PMK).

Then, Constitutional Justice M. Guntur Hamzah highlighted that the norm petitioned does not actually regulate restrictions over political parties, and that the Petitioners instead requested that the Court add a new norm. He asked them to strengthen their legal standing as they are not political party members.

“The Court considers legal standing very strictly and the Petitioners’ impaired constitutional rights, as they are not political party executives, must be supported by Article 1 paragraph (3) of the 1945 Constitution on the rule of law. Is this possible? This petition has not made a comparison with other countries where the tenure in political parties are also restricted, or isn’t there any? Such restriction is important to apply in Indonesia,” he said.

Meanwhile, Constitutional Justice Suhartoyo advised the Petitioners to observe the PMK on the petitioner’s profile, as the petition has not shown clearly the legal subjects who have the right to file a petition to the Constitutional Court are Indonesian citizens. He also advised the Petitioners to state the party’s statute/bylaw on the period of the selection of party chairperson.

“Strengthen the narrative that [the Petitioners] can be political party members, but add in detail that the aspiration to determine a chairperson can be seen in the party’s statute/bylaw. So not merely [claim that the Petitioners] have been disadvantaged, so the legal standing must be elaborated,” he explained.

At the end of the hearing, Constitutional Justice Suhartoyo announced that the Petitioners had 14 workdays to revise the petition and then submit it no later than Monday, June 12, 2023 at 10:00 WIB to the Registrar’s Office, who will then schedule the next hearing.

Author       : Sri Pujianti
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR            : M. Halim
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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