Expert assistant to constitutional justice Mohammad Mahrus Ali explaining the implementation of the Court’s authorities to members of Permahi of Pasundan University Law Faculty, Monday (7/12/2024). Photo by MKRI/Ilham W.M.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Management of the Indonesian Law Student Association (Permahi) of the Faculty of Law of Pasundan University, Bandung Raya Branch, conducted a legal visit to the Court on Monday, July 15, 2024. Expert Assistant received the visit to the Constitutional Justice, Mohammad Mahrus Ali.

Mahrus Ali explained why the Court always conducts speedy trials because there is an adage, “justice delayed, justice denied.” Therefore, in order to immediately fulfill the sense of justice in society, the Court does not postpone the trial process.

Furthermore, to the 56 attendants, Mahrus Ali explained the court's authority, which is granted by the 1945 Constitution. The first authority of the Court is to review laws against the 1945 Constitution. According to Mahrus, the court's authority in reviewing laws is very dynamic.

He cited the Court’s decision in 2013 that no longer put the regional elections under the general elections regime and ordered lawmakers to create a special court to adjudicate regional elections dispute cases. However, lawmakers have not yet established the special court and have temporarily entrusted the authority to the Constitutional Court. This situation continued until the norm regulating regional elections court was challenged. Ultimately, the Constitutional Court asserted its ongoing authority to settle these disputes.

Mahrus said that the more laws are reviewed in the Constitutional Court, the more materials students will have to understand why these laws are often reviewed in the Constitutional Court. For example, the General Election Law has been reviewed almost 100 times.

The dynamics of the Judicial Review of the Job Creation Law are also interesting to study. The Constitutional Court, in its decision, ordered the lawmakers to make a number of improvements to the Job Creation Law. However, instead of discussing it, the government issued a Government Regulation in Lieu of Law (Perppu), which was then ratified as the Job Creation Law.

Mahrus reminded Permahi that they must be able to investigate the reason a law is to be frequently reviewed in the Constitutional Court. They have to know that laws are political products that are discussed and formed by political institutions, so it is interesting to study

The next authority is the dispute over the authority of state institutions (SKLN), whose authority is regulated in the 1945 Constitution. “SKLN is a dispute over the authority of state institutions; the Constitutional Court provides a middle way between the two state institutions that are in dispute,” said Mahrus.

Furthermore, the Court has the authority to dissolve political parties. However, to date, there has been no dissolution of political parties. Mahrus revealed the results of his comparative study of why a political party was dissolved in a country. According to him, the dissolution must be based on the ideology that applies in a country and the ideology of the political party.

Mahrus Ali also revealed an interesting dynamic in the dispute over the results of the recent presidential and vice-presidential elections (PHPU). This can be a study because, so far, there has never been a dissenting opinion in the PHPU decision for president and vice president. It includes the large number of amicus curiae submissions that occurred in the dispute over the results of the presidential and vice-presidential elections.

According to Mahrus, the amicus curiae phenomenon enriched the dynamics of democracy because, although they were not the parties that disputed the results, the panel heard some of their demands. In addition, evidence in the PHPU is not limited by time as long as it is within the time frame; what is limited is the number of witnesses and experts submitted by the parties.

The next authority of the Constitutional Court is the impeachment of the President and Vice President, which starts from the political process in the People’s Representatives Council, is processed legally in the Constitutional Court, and is then processed back politically in the People’s Consultative Assembly.

Author              : Ilham Wiryadi Muhammad
Editor               : Nur R.
Translators       : Jihan Nibras/Rizky Kurnia Chaesario (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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