Constitutional Justice Suhartoyo at a judicial review hearing where petitioners withdrew petition to request appointment of president/vice president by MPR, Thursday (9/21/2023). Photo by MKRI/Fauzan.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) held the second judicial review hearing of Article 6 and Article 6A of the 1945 Constitution. The Petitioners, Muhammad Yusuf Mansur and Muhammad Fauzan had requested the annulment of Article 6 and Article 6A of the 1945 Constitution. At the petition revision hearing for case No. 101/PUU-XXI/2023 on Thursday, September 21, 2023 Muhammad Yusuf Mansur expressed the Petitioners’ wish to withdraw the petition.

Constitutional Justices Suhartoyo (panel chair), Enny Nurbaningsih, and Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh clarified this directly to Yusuf. They asked whether the Petitioners had submitted a letter to request the withdrawal to the Registrar’s Office. “Yes, that is accurate,” Yusuf said. 

Also read: Petitioners Want Conflict-Prone Direct Election Replaced by Appointment by MPR

At the preliminary hearing on Thursday, September 9, 2023, the Petitioners requested the annulment of Articles 6 and 6A of the 1945 Constitution UUD 1945 to the Constitutional Court (MK). They petitioned for the return to Article 6 prior to the amendment, which used to read, “(2) The President and Vice President shall be elected by the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) by a majority vote.”

In the petition, the Petitioners argued that the amended articles have resulted in the shift in the general elections from representation through a majority vote in the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) to direct elections. However, direct presidential, legislative, and local elections have flaws, such as the risk of violence between election contestants and high expense of election.

Furthermore, they asserted, the amendment had disregarded the fourth precept of Pancasila, which stipulates that leadership be decided by consensus. Therefore, in their petitum, the Petitioners requested that the Court annul the amendment to Articles 6 and 6A of the 1945 Constitution and amended Articles 6 and 6A for violating the fourth precept of Pancasila. They asked the constitutional justices to overturn the derivatives of both articles in the electoral laws on the presidential and local elections. They requested that the Court restore the election of the president and vice president as well as regional heads to the MPR.

Author       : Sri Pujianti
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR            : Fitri Yuliana
Translator  : Nyi Mas Laras Nur Inten Kemalasari/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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