Abu Rizal Biladina, a student of the Faculty of Law at the University of Indonesia, submitted a judicial review of Article 7 paragraph (2) of Law No. 10 of 2016 on the Second Amendment to Law No. 1 of 2015 on the Stipulation of Government Regulation in Lieu of Law No. 1 of 2014 on the Election of Governors, Regents, and Mayors into Law (Pilkada Law), Monday (9/9/2024). Photo by MKRI/Bayu

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JAKARTA, HUMAS MKRI - The Constitutional Court (MK) held a hearing on the judicial review of Article 7 paragraph (2) of Law No. 10 of 2016 on the Second Amendment to Law No. 1 of 2015 on the Stipulation of Government Regulation in Lieu of Law No. 1 of 2014 on the Election of Governors, Regents, and Mayors into Law (Pilkada Law) against the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, on Monday (9/9/2024). The petition for Case No. 118/PUU-XXII/2024 was filed by Abu Rizal Biladina, a student of the Faculty of Law at the University of Indonesia. According to Abu Rizal Biladina (Petitioner), Article 7 paragraph (2) of the Pilkada Law does not accommodate local residents to advance fairly in contesting the Pilkada.

In a hearing led by Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra, Abu Rizal Biladina (Petitioner) explained the constitutional loss he experienced due to the enactment of Article 7 paragraph (2) of the Pilkada Law.

“I took a closer look at the Pilkada Law and found that there is no locality element in the requirements of the Pilkada Law, which is explicitly regulated in Article 7 paragraph (2),” he said.

According to him, when there is no locality element, it will have an impact on policies in regional development that are not based on the values of locality approaches that are not in accordance with local conditions. Based on the study conducted by the Petitioner, there is a fact of the locality element problem in the requirements for nomination of regional heads because there are no specific requirements regarding the locality element in Article 7 paragraph (2) of the Regional Election Law. This, according to the Petitioner, provides a potential constitutional loss for the Petitioner because it could have a regional head who does not understand the sensitivity of the issues that develop in the area.

The Petitioner considers that the lack of sensitivity impacts regional development policies that are not based on locality values and approaches that are not in accordance with local conditions. This lack of sensitivity threatens regional stability because people tend to be dissatisfied with the policies of their regional heads. This condition can be seen in the case of eviction conflicts that occurred in the Special Region of Jakarta during the tenure of Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama.

The Petitioner, in his petition, also summarized several names of former regional head officials who were not local residents. For example, Djarot Saiful Hidayat, a politician who was born in Magelang. Djarot also became Deputy Governor and Governor of DKI Jakarta. Then, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama was born and grew up in Belitung. Basuki became Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta from 2012 to 2014 and then served as Governor of DKI Jakarta from 2014 to 2017. The applicant also mentioned Joko Widodo, who was born and raised in Surakarta and served as Governor of DKI Jakarta from 2012 to 2014.

Therefore, in the petitum, the Petitioner asks the Constitutional Court to declare Article 7 paragraph (2) of the Pilkada Law contrary to the 1945 Constitution and has no binding legal force as long as it is not interpreted as “Candidates for Governor and Deputy Governor Candidates, Regent and Deputy Regent Candidates, and Mayor and Deputy Mayor Candidates, as referred to in paragraph (1), must fulfill the following requirements: t. reside in the area where the candidate is running for at least 5 (five) years before the determination of the candidate.

Justices Advice

Responding to the Petitioner's request, Justice Ridwan Mansyur advised the Petitioner to look at the norms of Article 7 paragraph (2) letter p in detail. “So that you can expand and develop it more focused on this item p or you add requirements in the petition related to domicile for regional head candidates of Law Number 7 paragraph (2),” Justice Ridwan explained.

The Panel of Justices gave the Petitioner 14 days to revise the petition. The revised petition shall be submitted to the Registrar’s Office no later than Monday, September 23, 2024, at 15.00 WIB.

Author: Utami Argawati.

Editor: N. Rosi

PR: Tiara Agustina.

Translator: Rizky Kurnia Chaesario

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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