The House and the Government requesting a delay of hearing on the Village Law, Wednesday (9/18/2024). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) held a material judicial review hearing of Article 118 letter e of Law No. 3 of 2024 on the Second Amendment to Law No. 6 of 2014 on Villages on Wednesday, September 18, 2024. The case No. 92/PUU-XXII/2024 was filed by fourteen village chiefs candidates elected in the simultaneous village chief election (pilkades) in South Konawe Regency on September 24, 2023.

The Petitioners argue that the enactment of Article 118(e) of the Village Law, which regulates the extension of the term of office of village heads whose terms of office expired on February 2024, has caused concrete and actual harm. Article 118(e) of the Village Law reads, “Village Heads whose term of office ends in February 2024 may be extended in accordance with the provisions of this Law.”

Today’s hearing was supposed to hear the House of Representatives (DPR) and the President (Government). However, the House sent a letter notifying the Court of their absence at the hearing and requesting a delay. The Government also requested that the hearing be delayed since they needed time for coordination.

“The House and the President asked for a delay. Maybe since the petition is serious, it needs serious discussions between ministries as well as within the House. [We ask] that the Petitioners be patient. Hopefully the next hearings would not be postponed so that the case will continue as it should,” said Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra, who chaired the hearing. The case was adjourned until Wednesday, October 9, 2024 at 10:30 WIB.

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At the preliminary hearing on Tuesday, August 6, legal counsel Andri Darmawan said the enactment of Article 118 letter e of the Village Law has caused the Petitioners to be unable to be inaugurated as village heads by the South Konawe regent on April 30, 2024, due to the Minister of Home Affairs letter No. 100.3.5. 5/1747/BPD dated April 26, 2024, which confirms that with the enactment of Article 118 letter e of the Village Law essentially requests the South Konawe regent to extend the term of office of the village heads for two years for the village heads whose term of office expires on April 30, 2024 and postpone the inauguration of 96 elected village heads until the end of the term of office of the current village heads. Thus, the Petitioners’ inauguration was canceled.

Andri revealed that the village heads elected by the simultaneous election in South Konawe Regency on September 24, 2023 are entitled to be inaugurated as village heads with a term of office of 8 (eight) years based on Article 118 e of the Village Law.

In their petitums, the Petitioners request that the Court declare Article 118 letter e of the Village Law unconstitutional and not legally binding if not interpreted as “Village Heads whose term of office ends in April 2024 may be extended in accordance with the provisions of this Law as long as the village head election and the certification of the village head election results have not been held.” Thus, the norm of Article 118 letter e should be amended to read, “Village Heads whose term of office ends in April 2024 may be extended in accordance with the provisions of this Law as long as the village head election has not been held and the results of the village head election have not been certified.” 

Author         : Utami Argawati
Editor          : N. Rosi.
PR              : Fauzan F.
Translator    : 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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