The Court postponing the judicial review hearing of Law No. 3 of 2024 on Villages for case No. 107/PUU-XXII/2024, Monday (11/11/2024). Photo by MKRI/Panji.
JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Petitioners of case No. 107/PUU-XXII/2024 on Law No. 3 of 2024 on Villages had not submitted their witness statements required by the Constitutional Court Regulation (PMK). Therefore, the session to hear the Petitioners’ witnesses on Monday, November 11, 2024 was postponed and will commence on Wednesday, December 4, 2024.
“Based on a report by the Registrar’s Office, the Petitioners did not submit their witness statements as required by the Court’s regulation, by November 9. It was supposed to be [submitted no later than] two days before the hearing. The Court will reschedule the session to hear the witness statements, which were submitted past deadline,” said Chief Justice Suhartoyo in the plenary courtroom.
The House of Representatives (DPR) was also absent from the hearing. The Court will request it to present their testimony. So, on December 4 at 10:30 WIB, the Court will hear the House and the Petitioners’ experts/witnesses.
The President/Government waived their right to testify, as was conveyed by their proxy—the Ministry of Law and Human Rights’ coordinator for the settlement of legislative disputes on politics, law, and security Purwoko at the previous session set to hear the House’s and the President’s testimonies on Thursday, October 24.
“As the President’s proxy, we agreed to waive the right to testify, Your Honors. We have considered this from various perspectives,” Purwoko had said in the plenary courtroom.
However, he had not detailed the reason. He only asserted that the reason could not be presented as it is the decisions of officials within the Ministry of Home Affairs.
“So, several aspects have been considered, and upon consideration, [the President] would rather leave it to the Court. So, [the President] leaves this entirely to the Court to hand down a just decision,” he said.
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The Petitioners of case No. 107/PUU-XXIV/2024—the Association of United Village Associations and three village heads (Petitioner I-IV)—feel aggrieved because Article 118 letter e of Law No. 3 of 2024 on the Second Amendment to Law No. 6 of 2014 on Villages does not mention that the terms of office of village ending in November 2023, December 2023, and January 2024 are also extended.
They believe the Village Law should accommodate a two-year extension for village heads whose terms of office end in November 2023, December 2023, and January 2024. However, the a quo norm only mentions that village heads whose term of office ends in February 2024 can be extended. Therefore, there is no legal certainty for the Petitioners.
The Petitioners allege that the problem occurred due to the Minister of Home Affairs interpretation of the a quo norm. The Minister, through Circular Letter No. 100.3.5.5/2625/SJ dated June 5, 2024, did not interpret the norm to include village heads whose terms of office ended in November 2023, December 2023, and January 2024.
As a result of this circular letter, the Petitioners stated that they felt constitutionally harmed because the village heads whose terms of office ended in November 2023, December 2023, and January 2024 did not receive a term extension. In fact, it was repeatedly emphasized by the speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR) that the a quo article refers to village heads whose terms of office ended in November 2023, December 2023, January 2024, and February 2024.
They argue that the House speaker had had a coordination meeting with 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 the House’s Board of Expertise, and two village organizations, APDESI (Indonesian Association of Village Administrations) and AKSI (Association of Indonesian Village Heads). At the meeting, it was agreed that Article 118 letter e would accommodate village heads whose terms of office would end in November 2023, December 2023, and January 2024 while not being charged for any crime or resigning.
However, on January 14, 2023, the Minister of Home Affairs issued the Circular Letter No. 100.3.5.5/244/SJ on the implementation of village head elections during the simultaneous general and regional elections in 2024, which basically stated that village head elections could be held before November 1, 2023 or after the completion of the 2024 general and regional election stages. With the circular, village heads whose terms of office ended in November, December 2023, and January 2024 could not participate in the village head election, so Petitioner I requested that the Minister provide confirmation to regents and mayors so that village head elections be accelerated before November 2023 on the grounds that there were simultaneous election stages, but the Minister’s confirmation to the regents or mayors did not work out, so it was detrimental to Petitioners II, III, and IV and 2,181 village heads whose terms of office ended in November 2023, December 2023, and January 2024.
In their petitum, the Petitioners request the Court to declare Article 118 letter e of Law No. 3 of 2024 (“Village Heads whose term of office ends in February 2024 may be extended in accordance with the provisions of this Law”) unconstitutional. They wishe that the article be interpreted as, “Village Heads whose terms of office ended in November 2023, December 2023, January 2024, and February 2024 may be extended in accordance with the provisions of this Law.”
Author : Mimi Kartika
Editor : N Rosi.
PR : Raisa Ayuditha Marsaulina
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.
Monday, November 11, 2024 | 12:56 WIB 83