The Petitioner’s legal counsels at the petition revision hearing for the material judicial review of Law No. 34 of 2004 on the Indonesian Armed Forces, Tuesday (6/17/2025). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) held the preliminary hearing of the material judicial review of the Elucidation to Article 2 letter d of Law No. 34 of 2004 on the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI/Army Law) on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. The case No. 85/PUU-XXIII/2025 was filed by Ahmad Soffan Aly through legal counsel Ferdian Zakiy.

At this petition revision hearing, panel chair Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra stated that the Petitioner’s revised petition was not accepted because it was past the deadline.

“We had set June 10, 2025 as the deadline for the revised petition. However, the petition was only received two hours prior to this hearing. Therefore, the Court will use the initial petition,” he stressed.

The Petitioner argued that the legal uncertainty in the Elucidation to Article 2 letter d of the TNI Law is contrary to Article 28D paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution on the guarantee of fair legal certainty. Therefore, he asked the Court to declare that the Elucidation to Article 2 letter d of the TNI Law unconstitutional and not legally binding, or at least to provide a constitutional interpretation so that civilian supremacy still applies in two government situations: normal and emergency.

Also read: Army Law Challenged for Potential Defiance to Civilian Authority

The Petitioner argued, the Elucidation to Article 2 letter d of the TNI Law does not anticipate emergency conditions, such as the simultaneous vacancies of the office of president and vice president as stipulated under Article 8 paragraph (3) of the 1945 Constitution.

“The Elucidation to the TNI Law only mentions the president as a leader directly elected by the people. In fact, in an emergency, executive power is delegated to the acting president, who is not the result of direct elections,” Ferdian explained before the panel of justices at the preliminary hearing on Tuesday, May 27.

The Petitioner is concerned that the norm’s vagueness could make way for the TNI commander’s disobedience to the acting president, especially in situations of national crisis. This, he argued, could lead to the weakening of civilian supremacy and potential military insubordination that would threaten state stability.

“In such a vacuum, national leadership is run collectively, whereas the military requires a quick and single command. This risks ineffectiveness and even insubordination,” Ferdian continued.

Author       : Utami Argawati
Editor        : N. Rosi
PR            : Fauzan 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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