The Petitioner at the preliminary hearing for the material judicial review of Law No. 13 of 2023 on Manpower, Friday (5/16/2025). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) held the preliminary hearing for the material judicial review of Law No. 13 of 2023 on Manpower on Friday, May 16, 2025. The petition for case No. 65/PUU-XXIII/2025 was filed by Syamsul Jahidin, a university student.

The Petitioner challenges Article 35 paragraph (1) of the Manpower Law, which reads, “Employers who need workforce may recruit by themselves the workforce they need or have them recruited through job placement agencies.”

He appeared before the Court without any legal counsel. He believes that the provision has allowed employers excessive authority to set job requirements, which are often discriminatory, such as age limits. He argued that this has led to legal uncertainty, is against the principle of equality, and restricted access to fair jobs.

“The phrase ‘may recruit by themselves the workforce they need’ in Article 35 paragraph (1) has led to increasing social impacts. Many job requirements are illogical, thus restricting job seekers from finding work,” he said before the constitutional justices.

He referred to the Constitutional Court Decision No. 124/PUU-XXII/2024, in which the Court ruled that a similar phrase had allowed for discrimination. He stressed that this is against the ILO Convention No. 111 on Discrimination in the Workplace, which has been ratified through Law No. 21 of 1999. Therefore, the state must provide legal protection and revise norms that potentially take away citizens’ rights to decent work.

“The Court is not strict in monitoring veiled discriminatory recruitment practices. This is against the nation’s ideals as referred to in the Preamble to the 1945 Constitution,” he added.

In the petitums, Syamsul asked the Court to declare Article 35 paragraph (1) of the Manpower Law conditionally unconstitutional and that it must be interpreted that employers must not commit discrimination in any form, including on the basis of age, religion, ethnicity, race, sex, education, nor must they disparage any job seekers, except on legitimate grounds.

Justices’ Advice

In response to the petition, Constitutional Justice Ridwan Mansyur asked the Petitioner to elaborate on his legal standing. “The Petitioner claims to be a taxpayer and to potentially suffer constitutional loss. However, the elaboration must be revised and should meet the five parameters of constitutional loss,” he said.

The constitutional justices gave the Petitioner 14 days to revise the petition. He is to submit the revised petition by Monday, June 2, 2025.

Read the petition for case No. 65/PUU-XXIII/2025.

Author         : Utami Argawati
Editor          : N. Rosi
PR               : Andini S.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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