Chief Justice opening the second national conference of APHTN-HAN alongside chairman and secretary-general of APHTN-HAN, Friday (9/29/2023). Photo by MKRI/Ilham WM.

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BATAM (MKRI) — Chief Justice Anwar Usman opened the 2nd National Conference of the Association of Constitutional and Administrative Law Lectures of Indonesia (2nd KNAPHTN-HAN) on “The Dynamic of General Election and State Administration as the Implementation of the 1945 Constitution” on Friday, September 29, 2023 in Batam, Riau Islands Province.

Justice Anwar said that the simultaneous 2019 election, which required a lot of attention, resources, and energy, should be used as a valuable lesson for all Indonesian people. Some blame the change in the electoral system, where the legislative and presidential elections used to be separate, but some believe simultaneous elections is a consequence of the presidential system adopted by the Constitution. Despite these different views, the Constitutional Court has made serious efforts to fulfill the constitutional mandate of examining and deciding general election results dispute (PHPU) cases to the best of its abilities.

Next, in his keynote speech, Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat said that the Court should be careful in examining, deciding, and adjudicating election results disputes, especially in the upcoming 2024 Election, because it is a 25-year cycle of changing eras. “After observing clearly and in-depth, the shift from one era to another is between 25 to 30 years,” he said.

He said that Indonesia’s current path to post-Reform era may not be good, given that oligarchy has emerged. In Bung Karno’s era and even in Suharto’s authoritarian era, he added, this never happened. There is a tendency for power outside of the three branches of government to be at play. Those that control political parties also have representatives in the legislature and in the executive, and they control the media, business, and trade that determine everything in this country.

He believes the amendment to the 1945 Constitution in 1999 to 2002 is proof that Indonesia has managed to go through the transition era safely. However, the constitutional amendment also brought fundamental changes, by bringing about oligarchy. “However, do we have to return to the 1945 Constitution before the amendment?” he asked rhetorically.

He said what can be done now is interpreting the Constitution through the Constitutional Court so that individual liberalization does not occur. He added that existing laws in Indonesia are built on a legal system characterized by Pancasila, but people often forget Pancasila values.

Prior to Justice Arief’s speech, Constitutional Justice M. Guntur Hamzah, who is the chairman of APHTN-HAN, said that in 2024 Indonesia will hold presidential, legislative, and regional election. Issues related to the 2024 simultaneous election are interesting to discuss in this forum, for example on guarantee of certainty, independence, and effectiveness in resolving election violations and disputes over the 2024 election process by Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body), state administrative court, and disputes over election results by the Constitutional Court. Another interesting discussion is the relationship between the KPU (General Elections Commission), Bawaslu, and DKPP (Election Organizer Ethics Council) as election organizers.

He also revealed that there were thoughts about structuring supervision on the KPU, especially the limits of DKPP’s authority that should not be too deep into the policy (discretion) area of organizing the 2024 Election. In addition, the implementation of Bawaslu’s authority needs to be strengthened in the context of election law enforcement, he said.

Author       : Ilham M. W.
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
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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