The ruling hearing for the material judicial review of Law No. 2 of 2008 on Political Parties, Tuesday (6/27/2023). Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) rendered Decision No. 53/PUU-XXI/2023 on the material judicial review of Law No. 2 of 2011 on the Amendment to Law No. 2 of 2008 on Political Parties on Tuesday, June 27, 2023 in the plenary courtroom. The petition was filed by Muhammad Helmi Fahrozi, E. Ramos Petege, and Leonardus O. Magai.

Alongside the other eight constitutional justices, Chief Justice Anwar Usman delivered the verdict, “[The Court] declares the Petitioners’ petition inadmissible.”

In its opinion, delivered by Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra, the Court stated that it had examined the petition at a preliminary hearing on Tuesday, May 30, which legal counsel Aldo Pratama Amry attended.

“At the hearing, the Court had provided advice to the Petitioners in relation to the a quo petition and informed them of the deadline for the revised petition, that is, Monday, June 12, 2023 (vide transcript of case No. 53/PUU-XXI/2023 dated May 30, 2023). However, until the deadline, the Petitioners did not submit the revised petition,” Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra said.

The Court then scheduled a second hearing on Monday, June 12 to examine the revised petition and approve evidence, but the Petitioners did not attend. At the hearing, the Court’s summons officer received a text message informing the Court that due to technical issues, several documents from Papua had not arrived so the Petitioners could attend the hearing. They requested that the Court dismiss the a quo petition.

Based on this legal fact and following the procedure, Justice Saldi explained, the a quo petition could still continue with the Court using the initial petition. However, due to the Petitioners’ request, the Court judged that they were not serious in filing the petition. As such, it must be dismissed. Therefore, the Court did not consider the Petitioners’ legal standing.

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The Petitioners challenged Article 2 paragraph (1) letter b of the Political Party Law, which reads, “The founder and the executive members of a political party shall not be the concurrent member of another political party.”

At the preliminary hearing on Tuesday, May 30, legal counsel Aldo Pratama Amry alleged that constitutional rights of the Petitioners, who had turned 17 and wish to be political party members, would be violated because there was no restriction or prohibition for political party chairperson against serving as a chairperson continuously. The Petitioners also argued that they would lose the right to become executive members of political parties since the party’s chairperson would prioritize people close to them. This, they argued, would lead to the emergence of party dynasties.

Based on these reasons, the Petitioners requested 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. 

Author       : Utami Argawati
Editor        : Nur R.
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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