Petitioner Haji Mohammad Subhan delivering the petition’s subject matter during a judicial review hearing of Law No. 12 of 2006 on Citizenship of the Republic of Indonesia (Citizenship Law) to the Constitutional Court, Monday (10/3/2025), at the Panel Courtroom. Photo by MKRI/Panji.

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Jakarta (MKRI) – Haji Mohammad Subhan, an advocate, filed a material judicial review petition of Law No. 12 of 2006 on Citizenship of the Republic of Indonesia (Citizenship Law) to the Constitutional Court. The preliminary hearing of Case No. 14/PUU-XXIII/2025 was heard by Justice Arief Hidayat as the chair, along with Justice Anwar Usman and Justice Enny Nurbaningsih.

In the petition, the Petitioner considered Article 2 of the law contradicts Article 26 paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia. Subhan, who attended the hearing without legal counsel, asserted that Article 28D paragraph (3) of the 1945 Constitution reads, “Every citizen has the right to obtain equal opportunity in government.” According to the Petitioner, the grammatical interpretation of the article meant that the right to participate in the government is only given to Indonesian citizens, both for the Indigenous Indonesian nation and other nations who have been legalized as citizens by law.

The Petitioner opined that, in fact, there are individuals from other nations who are not legalized as Indonesian citizens but hold government positions. Anies Rasyid Baswedan is an individual mentioned as a case study in the petition.

“In fact and reality, there are many other nations who certainly do not have any legalization as Indonesian citizens, but they are given the same opportunities in the government and/or hold position, such as Anies Baswedan, who was once a Minister of Education and Culture in the Administration of President Joko Widodo in 2014, 17th Governor of Special Capital Region of Jakarta for 2017-2022, and became Presidential Candidate for 2024-2029, meanwhile he is an other nation who does not have legalization as a citizen of Indonesia, so does Habib Luthfi bin Yahya, who was once a Member of Presidential Advisory Council for 2019-2024, Habib Hadi Zainal Abidin who was a Mayor of Probolinggo for 2019-2024, and became a member of the House of Representative for 2014-2018, Habib Aboe Bakar Alhabsyi became a member of the House of Representative for 2024-2029, and Haikal Hassan Baras, who is the Chairman of Halal Product Guarantee Agency, a ministerial level position, and Raffi Ahmad, Special Envoy of the President for the Development of Young Generation and Art Workers,” Subhan explained.

The petitioner requested that the government institutions, in executive, legislative, and judicative branches, constitutively require that individuals of other nations who wish to hold government positions have legalization proof as Indonesian citizens based on laws and regulations.

“[it is] to prevent individuals from other nations who do not have legalization as Indonesian citizens to have the same opportunity in the government, so institutions or agencies, executive, legislative, and judicative can be the entrance, where citizens can participate in the government, mandatory constitutively to require the individuals namely those of other nations to must be confirmed to have the legalization as Indonesian citizens by law,” Subhan stated.

In the petitum, the Petitioner requested the Court to declare that the phrase “individuals of other nations legalized by law” in Article 2 of the Citizenship Law is contrary to the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia and does not have legally binding power except proven by official legalization. The Petitioner also requested the Court to emphasize that individuals of other nations who run for office have legalization as Indonesian citizens based on laws and regulations.

Responding to the petition, Justice Enny gave advice for improvement. She advised the Petitioner to describe the constitutional losses he suffered.

“It needs to be explained; otherwise, the constitutional losses cannot be included in the subject matter. So you must mention the right in Article 28D paragraph (3) of the 1945 Constitution to have the same opportunity in the government. You feel that the right is harmed due to Article 2 of the Citizenship Law, where is the losses? Here, there is no such explanation,” Justice Enny stated. The Petitioner was given 14 working days to amend the petition.

Author: Utami Argawati
Editor: Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR: Fauzan Febriyan

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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