Legal counsels of the Petitioners delivering the subject matter of the petition revision during the judicial review hearing of the Attorney General Law at the Panel Courtroom, Thursday (6/3/2025). Photo by MKRI/Panji.

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Jakarta (MKRI) – Petitioners of Case No. 178/PUU-XXII/2025 revised their petition on material judicial review of Article 9 paragraph (1) letter d of Law No. 11 of 2021 on the Attorney General of the Republic of Indonesia (Attorney General Law). According to the Petitioners, the phrase “bachelor of law” in the provision of the requirement to become a prosecutor contained limited scope, which resulted in injustice for graduates of similar law studies, such as Islamic Law, Constitutional Law, or Islamic Criminal Law.

“In Advocate Law, to accommodate graduates from Syaria Faculty, the phrase no longer uses bachelor of law, but graduates who have a higher educational background in law so we can be advocates there,” A. Fahrur Rozi stated as the Petitioners’ legal counsel during the Petition Revision Hearing on Thursday, March 6, 2025, at the Panel Courtroom.

However, if referred to the Attorney General Law, which stipulates the phrase “bachelor of law”, the opportunity to become a prosecutor only opens for a bachelor of law. Meanwhile, a bachelor of Islamic law does not have the same opportunity to become a prosecutor. Fahrur said that in the context of the norms, implementing the phrase “bachelor of law” has created exclusivity towards one supposed to be the same knowledge qualification but treated differently against the other, which results in disqualification.

The petitioners experienced the civil servant recruitment mechanism for the exclusive formation of prosecutors, but they were declared not to pass the administrative requirements. They were denied the opportunity because they did not meet the educational qualifications required for the position. The Attorney General’s Office listed the requirements for the prosecutor position by only including and targeting two graduates of the bachelor’s program, Law and Law Studies.

However, Zulfikar Putra Utama, also a legal counsel, stated that China has progressive and inclusive regulations on the recruitment system, which enables various qualification paths to hold the position of prosecutor. Their system is not only limited to a bachelor of law but also provides opportunities for individuals with educational backgrounds outside of law to own a career as a prosecutor as long as they have the competence and understanding in the legal field.

Meanwhile, in Spain, the prosecutor qualification has been determined using competence requirements that are substantive and comprehensive. The requirement explicitly emphasizes the importance of an in-depth understanding of legal system fundamental aspects. The competence includes understanding and interpreting the elements, structures, resources, and implementation of legal systems from various jurisdictions. It must also be supported by the ability to analyze the mechanism of legal dispute settlement, an individual’s legal standing in an administrative context and its relations to the public institutions, and the capacity to implement legal resources priority criteria in determining existing norms, especially related to the constitutional principles and values. These requirements are implemented rigidly without limiting the educational background of prospective prosecutors.

The petitioners did not revise their petitums. They requested the Court to grant the petition in its entirety. The Petitioners requested the Court to declare the phrase “bachelor of law” in Article 9 paragraph (1) letter d of Law No. 11 of 2021 on Attorney General of the Republic of Indonesia contradicts the 1945 Constitution and does not have legally binding power as long as it is not interpreted as “bachelor of law or another bachelor of a similar study of law”, so the complete reading of the article becomes “having a minimum certificate of bachelor of law or bachelor of another similar study of law when joining the Prosecutor’s office.”

Also read: Failing Test to Become Prosecutors, Two Constitutional Law Graduates to Test Prosecutor’s Law

The petitioners are two constitutional law graduates, Silvi Nudia Nazla and Mohammad Fajar Ismail. They felt their constitutional rights were harmed due to the enactment of the article, which required a minimum of a bachelor of laws certificate to become a prosecutor when joining the prosecutor’s office. The Petitioners were deemed to not meet the administrative requirements to become prosecutors. Both were declared to have failed the administrative requirements as Candidates for Civil Servants of the Attorney General’s Office for the position of Junior Prosecutor. It was because Silvia and Fajar are graduates of constitutional law from the Faculty of Syariah and Law of the Universitas Islam Negeri Syarief Hidayatullah, Jakarta.

The Petitioners' educational qualifications were considered incompatible with the requirements for the prosecutor position they applied for. The verifier stated that they failed them because the study program for the bachelor’s degree in constitutional law was not listed in the Announcement on the Selection of CPNS Procurement of the Attorney General of the Republic of Indonesia in 2024. The verifier also refused the objection filed by the Petitioners by emphasizing that the compatibility of the educational qualifications is a specific requirement the applicants must fulfill. If the study program nomenclature was not listed or exactly the same as stipulated in Section I point A of the Announcement, it is considered ineligible.

Case No. 178/PUU-XXII/2024 was heard by the Panel of Justices led by Justice Arsul Sani, accompanied by Justice Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh and Justice Ridwan Mansyur. Before closing the hearing, Justice Arsul stated that the result would be brought to the Justices’ Deliberation Meeting to determine whether the case would be decided without further examination or continued to hear testimony from experts, related parties, and/or additional testifiers.

Author: Mimi Kartika
Editor: Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR: Raisa Ayuditha M.

Translator: Rizky Kurnia Chaesario

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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