Syukur Destieli Gulo (Petitioner) entering the courtroom for the preliminary hearing of the judicial review of Law No. 1 of 2015 on Regional Elections, Thursday (10/3/2024). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) held a material judicial review hearing of Article 188 of Law No. 1 of 2015 on the Stipulation of the Government Regulation in Lieu of Law No. 1 of 2014 on the Election of Governors, Regents, and Mayors into Law. This preliminary hearing took place on Thursday, October 3, 2024 to examine the petition No. 136/PUU-XXII/2024 filed by Syukur Destieli Gulo, a legal consultant.

Article 188 of Law No. 1 of 2015 reads, “Every state official, State Civil Apparatus official, and Village Head or other designation/Lurah who intentionally violates the provisions as referred to in Article 71, shall be punished with imprisonment for a minimum of 1 (one) month or a maximum of 6 (six) months and/or a fine of at least Rp600,000.00 (six hundred thousand rupiah) or a maximum of Rp6,000,000.00 (six million rupiah).”

Appearing without any legal counsel before Constitutional Justice Asrul Sani and members of the panel, the Petitioner explained that Article 71 of Law No. 10 of 2016 and Article 188 of Law No. 1 of 2015 are interrelated. The former is a primary legal norm containing prohibition, while the latter is a secondary one regulating the criminal sanctions for the violation of the former. Article 71 of Law No. 10 of 2016 prohibits state officials, regional officials, members of the Army/Police force, and village heads from committing acts that benefit or harm one of the election candidates. However, Article 188 of Law No. 1 of 2015 does not mention the phrase “regional officials” and “members of the Army/Police force,” so they cannot be criminally sanctioned despite any violation of Article 71 of Law No. 10 of 2016.

The Petitioner believes this could reduce the impartiality of regional officials and members of the Army/Police force, as violations they commit against Article 71 cannot be legally charged. He also argued that this has harmed his constitutional rights as a voter, as lack of impartiality of those officials could threaten free, confidential, honest, and fair elections. “This is against Article 18 paragraph (4), Article 22E paragraph (1), and Article 28D paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution,” he said.

The Petitioner also highlighted that the election stages as regulated in the General Elections Commission Regulation No. 2 of 2024 has started on Wednesday, September 25, 2024 until Saturday, November 23, 2024, and the provisions must be followed by all parties, including public officials, as regulated in Article 71 of Law No. 10 of 2016. Therefore, the Petitioner requested that the Court declare Article 188 of Law No. 1 of 2015 not legally binding if not interpreted to apply to “regional officials” and “members of the Army/Police force.”  

He asked that the phrases “regional officials” and “members of the Army/Police force” be included in Article 188, so that it would read: “Every state official, regional official, State Civil Apparatus official, member of the Army/Police force, and Village Head or other designation/Lurah who intentionally violates the provisions as referred to in Article 71, shall be punished with imprisonment for a minimum of 1 (one) month or a maximum of 6 (six) months and/or a fine of at least Rp600,000.00 (six hundred thousand rupiah) or a maximum of Rp6,000,000.00 (six million rupiah).”

Justices’ Advice

In response, Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat asked the Court to revise the petition following the Constitutional Court Regulation (PMK) No. 2 of 2021 on the procedural law for judicial review of laws. He also asked the Petitioner to explain his constitutional impairment.

“Why are you disadvantaged and what are your disadvantages, what caused it, is it potential? There are a basis for this, please study the Court’s decisions,” he advised.

Before adjourning the hearing, the panel gave the Petitioner 14 days to revise the petition and submit it by Wednesday, October 16, 2024 at 15:00 WIB. 

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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