Chief Justice Suhartoyo presiding over a continued hearing on judicial review of Law on Minerals and Coal Mining, Monday (23/09). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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JAKARTA, HUMAS MKRI - The Constitutional Court held a continued hearing on the judicial review of Article I point 4, which contains amendments to Article 6 paragraph (1) letter j and Article I point 26, which contains amendments to Article 35 paragraph (1) of Law Number 3 of 2020 on Amendments to Law Number 4 of 2009 on Mineral and Coal Mining (Minerba Law) on Monday, September 23, 2024. The third hearing for Case Number 77/PUU-XXII/2024, which was petitioned by Rega Felix, was scheduled to hear testimony from the House of Representatives and the President (Government).

However, the Government requested a postponement of the hearing because they were not ready with the statements to be submitted in the hearing. Meanwhile, the House of Representatives had sent a letter on September 19, 2024 to reschedule the hearing.

“Today's hearing was supposed to hear the testimony of the House of Representatives and the Government, but based on the Registrar's information, the President and the House of Representatives have not been able to deliver their testimonies. Therefore, the next hearing will be held on Monday, October 14, 2024 at 10.30 WIB. Therefore, the parties should be present [including] the Government so that there are no more delays because fast and low-cost justice is what justice seekers want to aim for,” said Chief Justice Suhartoyo from the Plenary Courtroom.

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Previously, an advocate and lecturer, Rega Felix, submitted a judicial review of Article I number 4, which contains amendments to Article 6 paragraph (1) letter j and Article I number 26, which contains amendments to Article 35 paragraph (1) of Law Number 3 of 2020 on Amendments to Law Number 4 of 2009 on Mineral and Coal Mining (Minerba Law) against the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia to the Constitutional Court. The first hearing of Case Number 77/PUU-XXII/2024, led by Justice Enny Nurbaningsih together with Justice M. Guntur Hamzah and Justice Arsul Sani, was held in the Plenary Courtroom on Wednesday, July 24, 2024.

Speaking at the hearing, Rega said that the policy of offering Special Mining Business License Areas (WIUPK) on a priority basis to religious organizations did not meet the parameters to be applied as an affirmative policy based on the 1945 Constitution. Indeed, the Government can still carry out priority offers as long as it does not use considerations based on ethnicity, religion, race and intergroup. If the priority is given based on these considerations, it is clearly contrary to Article 28I paragraph (2) and Article 33 paragraph (3) of the 1945 Constitution. This is because the meaning of “priority” in the norm of the tested article is not clearly limited and can be regulated unilaterally by the president.

 In the petitum, the Petitioner requested that the Court declares the phrase “prioritizing the offer of WIUPK” in Article 6, Paragraph (1), letter j, as amended by Article I, point 4 of the Minerba Law, to be in conflict with the 1945 Constitution and conditionally without binding legal force as long as it is not interpreted as “prioritizing the offer of WIUPK without considerations based on ethnicity, religion, race, and inter-group.” Furthermore, the Petitioner requested that the clause “Mining businesses are carried out based on business licenses from the central government” in Article 35, Paragraph (1), as amended by Article I, point 26 of the Minerba Law, be declared in conflict with the 1945 Constitution and conditionally without binding legal force as long as it is not interpreted as “Mining businesses are carried out based on business licenses from the central government without considerations based on ethnicity, religion, race, and intergroup.”

Author: Sri Pujianti

Editor: N. Rosi

PR: Fauzan F.

Translator: 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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