Petitioner and his legal counsel delivering the revised petition challenging the constitutionality of the IKN Law, Monday (26/1/2026). Photo by MKRI/Panji.

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Jakarta (MKRI) – The Constitutional Court (MK) resumed the material judicial review hearing of Articles 39 and 41 of Law No. 3 of 2022 on the State’s Capital City (IKN Law) as amended by Law No. 21 of 2023 on Monday, January 26, 2026. Petition No. 270/PUU-XXIII/2025 was filed by Zulkifli, also represented by legal counsel Hadi Purnomo. During the petition revision hearing, Hadi represented the petitioner to convey several revisions to the petition.

Hadi stated that he had refined the grounds of the petition concerning the defective design of the norms in the IKN Law, namely that the a quo provisions open room for a change of status without a harmonization mechanism, trigger horizontal conflict so that the legal system fails to provide certainty regarding the status of the state capital, and create confusion over which legal reference citizens should rely on in the administration of the state and government.

 “We have also revised the petitum so that it reads: to declare that Articles 39 and 41 of the IKN Law are inconsistent with the 1945 Constitution, in particular, a. Article 1 paragraph (3) on the principle of the rule of law and, b. Article 28D paragraph (1) on guarantees of fair legal certainty; to declare that Articles 39 and 41 of the IKN Law have no binding legal force insofar as they are not constitutionally interpreted to mean that any amendment regarding the termination or abolition of Jakarta’s status as the state’s capital city may only occur after the issuance of a presidential decree on the relocation of the state’s capital city, and that prior to such decree no other regulation, including legislation of equal rank, may directly or indirectly remove, abolish, or alter Jakarta’s status as the state’s capital city,” Hadi read from the petitum at a panel hearing chaired by Chief Justice Suhartoyo alongside Justices Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh and M. Guntur Hamzah.

Also read:

No Legal Certainty on Relocation of Capital City, IKN Law Challenged

During the preliminary hearing on Monday, January 12, 2026, according to the Petitioner, there is no legal certainty regarding the provisions for moving the capital city from Jakarta to the Capital City of Nusantara in East Kalimantan in the IKN Law. In addition, there is no clarity on Jakarta's status when the capital moves to the Capital City of Nusantara. The petitioner argues that, after Jakarta ceased to be the capital as stipulated in Article 41 of the IKN Law, there was a prevailing understanding that it had lost its status as the capital. Meanwhile, the relocation of the capital city to the Capital City of Nusantara has not been finalized and implemented effectively.

Thus, when read systematically, these two articles open up the possibility of a situation in which Jakarta's status as the capital city is considered to have ended, while regulations regarding its replacement status and institutional arrangements after the end of that status are postponed to another law that has not yet been formulated and whose timing is unknown. This situation creates legal uncertainty regarding the existence of the capital city and may create a normative vacuum in the regulation of fundamental aspects of state administration, which is contrary to the principle of the rule of law. (*)

Case tracking: Case No. 270/PUU-XXIII/2025

Author: Sri Pujianti
Editor: Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR: Andhini S.F.

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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