Menaldi Rasmin, as an expert, presented by the Petitioner during the continued material judicial review hearing of Law No. 17 of 2023 on Health (Health Law). The sixth hearing was held on Wednesday (11/12) at the Plenary Courtroom. Photo by MKRI/Panji.

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Jakarta (MKRI)—The Collegium cannot be inside the government because government politics would influence it. Meanwhile, the collegium is a knowledge advisor that should not be affected by politics or government. It is because the collegium duties are to decide on the competence standards of medical science, education standards on how to achieve competence, and competence achievement of a person so that they are worthy of being regarded as competent, no longer competent, or not competent at all; conducting mentorship in the form of sustainable education and training. This ensures that competence standards are maintained because medicine is directly in touch with the human soul and body.

Such was the expert statement from Menaldi Rasmin presented by Petitioner Djohansjah Marzoeki in the continued material judicial review hearing of Law No. 17 of 2023 on Health (Health Law). The sixth hearing of Case No. 111/PUU-XXII/2024 was held on Wednesday, December 11, 2024, at the Plenary Courtroom.

Menaldy further explained that the collegium is an autonomous and independent science institution. Autonomous means it has a system for assessing science and developing competence to achieve knowledge in a good and correct manner. Within science, there are two fundamental aspects: basic and applied science. Menaldi explained that basic science is real science. Meanwhile, applied science is its development, used by other persons or several other branches of science combined to be used in practice. Independence means being capable of making its own policy. The collegium grows in line with specialized development so that only specific specializations may understand the policy within the branch of science. It is impossible for another branch of science to contribute to regulating policy.

“The existence of state control over medical science, which was originally a basic science, but because it relates to many things that are developed in all directions and are under political control, makes applied science inappropriate in the use of humanity itself. This has happened in America and Germany. These great countries have been prosecuted by other countries in the world for misusing medical science to the detriment of many people. This shows that when basic science is used wrongly, the consequences can be great, and a country can be prosecuted by other countries. Where the state enters basic science and uses it as applied science, but not in the framework of providing freedom and independence from the profession to understand science in a good and correct way,” Menaldi explained.

The Collegium Independence

Menaldi then explained the history of the formation of the collegium in Indonesia. Simply put, with this body, the system or standards applied from one hospital to another is no longer a difference. This is because the scientific development of specialist medicine in Indonesia, which is developed by 38 professions, is run autonomously and independently by the collegium, which manages education and competence in the branch of specialist medical science.

Therefore, according to Menaldi, the existence of the Health Law which explains universally in Article 1 point 26 jo. Article 1 point 44 of Government Regulation No. 28 of 2024 that the collegium is a collection of experts from each health discipline who are in charge of that discipline, but the phrase “and is an organ of the council” is ambiguous in terms of the intended independence.

In Menaldi's opinion, science must be respected for its rules and independence because it develops studies that can determine which parts of applied science can be developed or not, which must be carried out by a panel of experts in the field. Therefore, the collegium contains a very special meaning of specialization. This is because this body sets the standards of competence, education, and curriculum standards that are single and do not vary, let alone different places of implementation of applied science.

“Thus, maintaining the independence of the collegium from the influence of government politics is a must. Because medicine, a science that can be applied that threatens human life and body. So, in order to prevent the misuse of medical science, it is absolute and must be facilitated by the state and also guaranteed that its application can be ensured to be harmless to the community,” Menaldi explained at the Plenary Hearing led by Chief Justice Suhartoyo and other constitutional justices.

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Defending Collegium as an Autonomous Body

Case No. 111/PUU-XXII/2024 was filed by Djohansjah Marzoeki, who works as a doctor/professor emeritus of plastic surgery at Airlangga University. He petitioned Article 451, Article 272 paragraph (2), Article 1 number 26, Article 272 paragraph (5), Article 421 paragraph (2) letter b of the Health Law.

At the preliminary hearing on Tuesday, August 27, legal counsel Muhammad Joni said the Petitioner believes the articles petitioned are against Article 28C paragraph (1), Article 28D paragraph (1), and Article 28H paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution and its Preamble. Due to the new repressive, authoritarian norm relating to collegiums in Article 451, which has no legal argument, the existing collegiums have lost their legality as their legal basis has turned illegitimate.

The Petitioner believes Article 421 paragraph (2) letter b has harmed him as it gave the Central and Regional Governments the authority to conduct supervision of professional ethics and discipline, which should be the domain of the profession and not the government.

As an academic institution, collegiums are in charge of medical science. However, they become baseless if they are normalized as government organs because they will be controlled by political rulers or government agencies. The Petitioner has an interest in the legitimacy of an independent collegium, whose existence and functions must reflect academic principles and the medical science. He argues that the collegium is an independent academic body and so its existence and functions are guaranteed, respected, and protected, not as a government agency. Therefore, the duties, functions, and authority of the collegium are unconstitutional if it is formed by the Minister of Health and becomes an executive organ regulated through Government Regulation (PP) No. 28 of 2024 on the Implementing Regulation for Law No. 17 of 2023 on Health as contained in Article 272 paragraph (5) of the Health Law.

In one of his petitums, the Petitioner requests that the Court declare Article 451 of Law No. 17 of 2023 unconstitutional and not legally binding; declare Article 421 paragraph (2) letter b along the phrase “and professional ethics and discipline” unconstitutional and not legally binding, so that Article 421 paragraph (2) letter b of Law No. 17 of 2023 would read, “… adherence to professional standards, service standards, standard operational procedures.”

Author: Sri Pujianti.

Editor: N. Rosi.

PR: Raisa Ayuditha Marsaulina.

Translator: Rizky Kurnia Chaesario/Yuniar Widiastuti

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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