The Constitutional Court is holding a hearing of a petition on Village Law, Tuesday (03/09/2024). Photo by MKRI/Ilham WM.

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JAKARTA, HUMAS MKRI - Petitioner of Case No. 107/PUU-XXII/2024 revised his petition regarding the judicial review of Article 118 letter e of Law No. 3 of 2024 on the Second Amendment to Law No. 6 of 2014 on Villages (Village Law) against the 1945 Constitution. This petition was filed by the Association of United Village Associations (Applicant I) together with three village heads (Applicant II-Applicant IV) who felt aggrieved because the norm did not mention the village heads whose terms of office ended in November 2023, December 2023, and January 2024 were also extended.

The Petitioners submitted a request to the Court to make this petition a priority for examination. “ To make the petition a quo submitted by the Petitioners a priority for examination at the Constitutional Court to provide protection of the constitutional rights of the Petitioners and minimize the constitutional loss of the Petitioners will occur,” the legal counsel of the Petitioners, Alexander Sinurat read out the petitum in the petition revision hearing on Tuesday, September 3, 2024, in the Plenary Courtroom.

According to the Petitioners, the Village Law should accommodate village heads whose terms of office end in November, December 2023, and January 2024 to obtain a two-year extension. However, the norms in the Village Law only mention that village heads whose term of office ends in February 2024 can be extended, so for the Petitioners, there is no legal certainty.

“Feeling constitutionally disadvantaged because the village heads whose terms of office in November, December 2023, and January 2024 are prohibited from conducting village head elections due to the impact of the moratorium on the grounds that it can interfere with the 2024 simultaneous general election process, but until now there is no guarantee of the argument and clarity. This is due to the unclear legal norms in Article 118 letter e of Law No. 3 of 2024,” said the Petitioners' legal counsel.

According to the Petitioners, the problem occurred due to the Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri) own interpretation of Article 118 letter e of the Village Law. The Minister of Home Affairs, through circular letter Number 100.3.5.5/2625/SJ dated June 5, 2024, did not interpret the phrase in the provisions of the norm to include village heads whose terms of office ended in November 2023, December 2023, and January 2024.

However, as a result of the Minister of Home Affairs' circular letter, the Petitioners stated that they felt constitutionally disadvantaged because village heads whose terms of office ended in November 2023, December 2023, and January 2024 did not receive an extension of their terms of office as stipulated in Article 118 letter e of the Village Law. In fact, said the Petitioners, it was repeatedly emphasized by the speaker of the House of Representatives that what is meant by the article a quo is the village head whose term of office ends in November 2023, December 2023, and January 2024 until February 2024.

According to the Petitioners, the leadership of the House of Representatives held a coordination meeting attended by the Secretary General of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Director General of Legislation of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, the Deputy for Legislation and Legal Administration of the Ministry of State Secretariat, the Head of Expertise of the Secretary General of the House of Representatives, and two village organizations, Apdesi and Aksi. During the meeting, it was agreed that Article 118 letter e accommodates village heads whose term of office ends in November 2023, December 2023, and January 2024 while not being a defendant or resigning.

However, on January 14, 2023, the Minister of Home Affairs issued a circular letter number 100.3.5.5/244/SJ regarding the implementation of village head elections during the simultaneous elections and regional elections in 2024, which basically stated that village head elections could be held before November 1, 2023, or could be held after the completion of the 2024 election and regional election stages. With the issuance of the circular letter, village heads whose terms of office ended in November, December 2023, and January 2024 could not participate in the village head election process, so Petitioner I requested that the Minister of Home Affairs provide confirmation to the Regents and Mayors so that village head elections were accelerated before November 2023 on the grounds that there were simultaneous election stages, but the confirmation from the Minister of Home Affairs to the regents or mayors did not work so that it was detrimental to Petitioners II, III and IV and 2,181 village heads whose terms of office ended in November, December 2023 and January 2024.

In their revised petitum, the Petitioners request the Court to declare Article 118 letter e of Law No. 3 of 2024, which reads, “Village Heads whose term of office ends until February 2024 may be extended in accordance with the provisions of this law", contrary to the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia. The Petitioners want the article to be interpreted as, “Village Heads whose terms of office end in November, December 2023, January 2024, and February 2024 may be extended in accordance with the provisions of this Law.”

This case was heard by a panel of Justices led by Justice M Guntur Hamzah, accompanied by Justice Arief Hidayat and Justice Arsul Sani. Before closing the hearing, the Panel of Justices validated the evidence submitted by the Petitioners. Justice Guntur said that this request would be reported to the Justice Deliberation Meeting (RPH). The registrar will inform the follow up of this petition.

Also read: Nearing the End of Term, Village Heads Ask For a Prolong Period

Author: Mimi Kartika.

Editor: Nur R.

PR: Raisa Ayuditha Marsaulina.

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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