Chief Justice Suhartoyo pronouncing the Ruling of the Formal Judicial Review Petition of Law No. 3 of 2025 on the Indonesian National Armed Forces, Thursday (05/06). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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Jakarta (MKRI) – The Constitutional Court declared unacceptable the formal judicial review of Law No. 3 of 2025 on the Amendment to Law No. 34 of 2004 on the Indonesian National Armed Forces (Army Law). The pronouncement of Decision No. 58/PUU-XXIII/2025 was held on Thursday, June 5, 2025.

“Declare the Petitioner’s petition unacceptable,” Chief Justice Suhartoyo pronounced the ruling.

In the legal consideration, Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra explained that the petitioners failed to clearly define the relations between the constitutional losses they had and the alleged violation in the making of the Army Law.

According to the Court, the Petitioners, as students, found a restriction on access to information about the lawmaking process. However, it was not accompanied by evidence or description of the concrete activity, such as delivering aspirations to lawmakers, involvement in discussions or seminars, or publications related to the Army Law.

“Despite the Petitioners claiming themselves as activists, they did not show evidence of their real involvement in the making process of Law No. 3 of 2025,” Deputy Chief Justice Saldi said.

The Court asserts that the legal standing in the formal review requires real participation in the lawmaking process and relevant constitutional loss, which can be proven. In this case, the Court did not find an interest correlation between the Petitioners and the legislative process being challenged, nor did it establish a causal link between the alleged constitutional loss and the enactment of the Army Law.

“For these reasons, the petition is declared unacceptable because the petitioners do not fulfill the requirement as parties with legal standing,” Deputy Chief Justice Saldi stated.

Also read:

Validity of Formation of Army Law Challenged

Petition to Review Army Law Legality Revised

Alleged Legislative Procedure Violation

Case No. 58/PUU-XXIII/2025 was filed by four law students of Batam International University: Risky Kurniawan, Albert Ola Masan Setiawan Muda, Otniel Raja Maruli Situmorang, and Jamaluddin Lobang. They argued that the formation of the Army Law violated Law No. 12 of 2011, Law No. 15 of 2019, and Law No. 13 of 2022 on Lawmaking Law. Legal counsel Respati Hadinata stated that the formation of law could not only be tested against the 1945 Constitution, as it only contains principles and basic norms. If the touchstone is only the 1945 Constitution, the formal review would be almost impossible because it does not include procedural provisions comprehensively.

Respati also mentioned that the inclusion of the Army Law Bill in the National Legislation Program Priority 2025 and the promulgation in the House’s Plenary Meeting on February 18, 2025, did not conform to the House’s order, including Article 290 paragraph (2) and Article 291 paragraph (1). They also argued that there were no emergency situations that could justify the acceleration of discussions as interpreted in Constitutional Court Decision No. 138/PUU-VIII/2009.

Author: Utami Argawati.

Editor: N. Rosi

PR: Tiara Agustina.

Translators: 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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