Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra giving a keynote speech at a national seminar on Andalas law competition by Kombad Justicia, Friday (10/6/2023). Photo by MKRI.

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PADANG (MKRI) — Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra delivered a keynote speech at a national seminar on Andalas Law Competition by Basilek Lidah Community (Kombad) Justicia on Friday, October 6, 2023 in Andalas University, West Sumatra Province. The seminar was part of Andalas Law Competition VI with the theme “Re-actualization of Contemporary Indonesian State Administration in Creating a State of Law Based on Pancasila.”

On site at the event, Justice Saldi said that Indonesian elections became new and concrete through adjustment to models of the general election regime. There was a broader discussion when the 1945 Constitution was amended.

“I have often stated that the 1945 Constitution by the founding fathers did not use to mention election at all. Try observing the old Constitution that has been partially amended, it did not mention election. It did mention people’s sovereignty but the phrase ‘general election’ did not appear there. However, in the Constitution of the Republic of the United States of Indonesia (RIS), the 1950 UUDS, the word ‘election’ appeared. If we go back to the 1945 Constitution in 1959, election was not mentioned in the Constitution. In 1971, there were more elections because of the MPR decree, which was then translated into the General Election Law,” he said.

He explained that regulations on election had only just appeared when the Constitution was amended. Article 22E of the 1945 Constitution finally regulates the elections of DPR (House of Representatives), DPD (Regional Representatives Council), DPRD (Regional Legislative Council), and president-vice president. Meanwhile, he added, the Constitution does not specify whether regional leaders are directly elected or not, but Article 18 of the 1945 Constitution specifies that they are democratically elected. Now, he said, multiple Constitutional Court decisions have plainly established that the regional head election is part of the general election regime.

“So… can the Court amend the Constitution? It can do so by interpreting the Constitution without amending the text itself. When the Constitutional Court declares that the regional election part of the general election regime, the Court interpreted the Constitution and determined that the regional election is part of general election,” he said.

Justice Saldi revealed that there used to be debate about the regional election, as some considered it not part of general election because the regulations for it were found in the chapter on regional government. “As a result, it was seen as part of the regional government system. Even back then, it was based on a ruling by the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court used to settle regional election disputes, and then the Akil Mochtar case came up, and the chief justice at the time received a plea from the majority of the constitutional justices who asserted that it was not part of general election,” he said.

Justice Saldi explained that currently the presidential election is held simultaneously with the general election. He stated that there had been discussions on the design of simultaneous elections. Then, despite being held at a different time from the presidential and legislative election, regional election is also held simultaneously.

“Later on, the regional head election will be synchronized and it will be held in November 2024. However, there have been discussions about moving it to September. We’ll see how it goes, whether it stays in November or September. Why can’t it be combined with presidential and legislative election, is because one of the numbers to determine the candidate pairs must be taken from the results of the legislative election. So, political parties can nominate regional heads using the results of the legislative election, because that model cannot possibly equalize both. Finally, this is separated,” he said.

Author       : Utami Argawati
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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