Petitioner Rega Felix during preliminary judicial review hearing of Article 44 paragraph 1 of Law No. 23 of 1999 on Bank of Indonesia, Tuesday (7/30/2024). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — Rega Felix, an advocate, filed a material judicial review petition of Article 44 paragraph (1) of Law No. 23 of 1999 on Bank of Indonesia (BI Law) to the Constitutional Court (MK). He admitted that he had applied for a position at BI as a fiqh expert (sharia economics). He wants the selection system at BI not to depend on the will of the BI Governor alone and to ensure an open and transparent selection system.

“This petition is essentially intended to provide a legal framework to ensure that the selection system at BI does not solely depend on the discretion of the BI Governor but guarantees an open and transparent selection system,” he said at the preliminary hearing for case No. 80/PUU-XXII/2024 on Tuesday, July 30, 2024.

Article 44 paragraph (1) of Law No. 23 of 1999 on the Bank Indonesia Law reads, “The Board of Governors shall appoint and discharge the employees of Bank Indonesia.” The Petitioner believes that the provision that serves as the legal basis for BI to organize a selection system in its institution is contrary to the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia.

The Petitioner had participated in a selection process conducted by an independent third party (PPM Management) and successfully passed the administrative selection, technical competency tests, psychological tests, psychological interviews, leaderless group discussions, person-organization fit assessments, and even the health and psychiatric evaluation stages. However, Bank Indonesia deemed the Petitioner not to meet the health and psychiatric qualifications.

Subsequently, the Petitioner sent a letter requesting information regarding the announcement of the selection results, such as the list of participant names and minimum qualification requirements. He was provided with an explanation and shown only the results of the health test without being given a copy. However, the Petitioner did not receive the additional information he requested, such as the health qualification standards for working as a sharia expert at Bank Indonesia, the list of successful participants, or the selection policy documents of Bank Indonesia.

The Petitioner mentioned that this situation is quite perplexing because the requirement was not stated initially, yet certain health conditions emerged as the reason for his rejection. If Bank Indonesia indeed uses physical condition parameters for the position of Sharia expert, these minimum qualification requirements should have been stated and announced at the beginning so that the Petitioner could have been aware and not held high expectations, thus avoiding uncertainty.

Furthermore, the Petitioner stated that the selection process at Bank Indonesia lacks the standard practices seen in other state institutions, which typically announce selection results to the public. Instead, Bank Indonesia employs international best practices; meanwhile, the primary parameter should be the 1945 Constitution, which guarantees the constitutional rights of citizens. The selection process at Bank Indonesia differs from CPNS selection standards, which announce the minimum qualification requirements in detail, and the selection results (scores and ranking) are announced at each stage, including the right of refutation.

The Petitioner did not receive any of these aspects during their selection process at Bank Indonesia. This should be suspected because the formulation of Article 44 paragraph (1) and the Explanation of Article 44 paragraph (1) of the BI Law regulates too “simple” because it does not mandate a selection system that is fair, transparent, and accountable. This contrasts with Article 58, paragraph (3) of Law No. 5 of 2014 on State Civil Apparatus (ASN Law), which provides a legal basis for CPNS recruitment and sets forth more fair, transparent, and accountable regulations;

In the petitum, the Petitioner requests that the Court interpret Article 44 paragraph (1) of Law No. 23 of 1999 on the Bank Indonesia Law as “The Board of Governors shall appoint the employees of Bank Indonesia after going through the stages of planning, an announcement of vacancies, selection, and announcement of selection results, and the Board of Governors carries outplacement and transfer both followed by and without promotion and discharge the employees of Bank Indonesia.”

Justices’ Advice

The case is being heard by a Panel consisting of Justice Arief Hidayat (panel chair), Justice Anwar Usman, and Justice Arsul Sani. Justice Arief Hidayat explained that Article 44 has three paragraphs. Besides paragraph (1), which is being challenged, paragraph (2) states that the Board of Governors shall establish regulations on staffing, salary systems, awards, pensions, retirement benefits, and other income for Bank Indonesia employees, while paragraph (3) indicates that the implementation of the provisions in paragraphs (1) and (2) shall be determined by a regulation of the Board of Governors.

Justice Arief Hidayat said that the Petitioner should explain how the contested article conflicts with the touchstone or the articles in the 1945 Constitution being invoked. He advised that the issue raised by the Petitioner should not be merely a matter of implementing regulations such as the Board of Governors’ regulations, instead of the fundamental provisions of the law.

“If you are challenging Article 44 paragraph (1) and its explanation, it seems that this series is in conflict with the articles that you use for testing (the touchstone). Try to describe where the contradiction is so that the Court can be assured that there is indeed a contradiction,” Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat explained.

At the end of the hearing, Justice Arief announced that the Petitioner would have 14 days to revise the petition and must submit it to the Registrar's Office no later than Monday, August 12. (*)

Author            : Mimi Kartika
Editor             : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR                 : Fauzan Febriyan
Translator      : Intana Selvira Fauzi/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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