/data/photo/2023/10/31/6540f3f0d0fee.jpg "Internal Problems and Ethical Violations Plague the Constitutional Court: Judges Saldi Isra and Arief Hidayat in Hot Water")
JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Constitutional justices Saldi Isra and Arief Hidayat’s emotional outburst when reading out their dissenting opinion in Constitutional Court Decision Number 90/PUU-XXI/2023, revealed the veil of internal problems within the Constitutional Court before the decision was taken.
The public may not know that there are a series of irregularities in the history of the case, from the time it was registered until it was decided.
Saldi and Arief are now taking risks for their “singing”. They were reported on suspicion of ethical violations because they were thought to have cornered colleagues and revealed the MK’s internal secrets.
The Honorary Council of the Constitutional Court (MKMK) indicated that what Saldi and Arief did may not be completely justified.
“There are indeed pluses and minuses,” said MKMK Chairman Jimly Asshiddiqie, last night, when Kompas.com conveyed the fact that it was because of the “emotional” dissenting opinion that the public knew there was an alleged ethical violation at the Court.
Jimly admitted that he could understand the background of a number of reporters who complained that Saldi and Arief had violated ethics.
He himself believes that judges should not convey the internal dynamics of the Constitutional Court to the public.
Jimly said that it was appropriate for 9 constitutional judges to debate fiercely, but the debate had to end when the hammer struck the verdict.
“What is being questioned is a dissenting opinion, (but) how come the content is not dissenting? The content is venting. Well, this is something new, about how we should build a tradition of dissenting opinions,” said the MK founder.
“Neither Prof. Arief nor Prof. Saldi seem to be strong enough to face internal problems. This is expressed in their legal opinions,” said Jimly.
Of the 20 reports processed by MKMK, Saldi Isra was reported individually by 3 reporters, as was Arief Hidayat.
Arief gave a statement to MKMK at the examination last Tuesday, as did Saldi, who was summoned by Jimly cs last Wednesday.
Saldi Isra’s Confusion
Starting his dissenting opinion in the decision which was read out on October 16 2023, Saldi Isra felt difficult. He admitted he was “really confused” about where to start with his differing opinions.
This problem revolves around the MK’s fickleness in responding to various lawsuits to relax the minimum age requirement of 40 years for presidential and vice-presidential candidates as regulated in Article 169 letter q of the Election Law.
On the same day when the trial to read the decision regarding the same article was held in a marathon, Monday (16/10/2023), the MK refused to relax these conditions in the three previous lawsuits.
KOMPAS.com / VITORIO MANTALEAN
Deputy Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, Saldi Isra, ahead of being questioned by the MK Honorary Council, Wednesday (1/11/2023).
After a lunch break, the Constitutional Court read out the decision which actually granted the relaxation.
“Since setting foot as a Constitutional Judge in this Court building on April 11 2017, or around 6.5 years ago, this is the first time I have experienced a strange, extraordinary event that can be said to be far from the limits of reasonable reasoning. The Court has changed its stance and attitude. just in a flash,” said Saldi.
“Has the Court ever changed its stance? It has, but never happened this quickly, where changes occurred in a matter of days,” he continued.
Another problem was revealed by Saldi regarding irregularities in the composition of judges who were deemed to agree with Decision 90 which gave legislative members and regional heads at all levels the opportunity to take part in the presidential election before 40 years.
Also read: Jimly: Saldi Isra and Arief Hidayat Can’t Stand the MK’s Internal Problems
Of the 5 judges who agreed to relax this requirement, 2 of them, judges Enny Nurbaningsih and Daniel Yusmic agreed that this opportunity should only be allowed for a governor.
A number of constitutional law experts believe that the opinions expressed by Enny and Daniel in the decision should be considered dissenting opinions.
If it is considered a dissenting opinion, Enny and Daniel’s position should be considered to be in the composition of the majority of judges who refused to change the minimum age requirements for presidential and vice presidential candidates along with Saldi Isra, Arief Hidayat, Suhartoyo and Wahiduddin Adams.
Moreover, in a similar lawsuit which was initially rejected by the Constitutional Court, Enny and Daniel were in the camp that also rejected the relaxation of the age requirements for presidential and vice presidential candidates.
The problem is, because they are considered concurring opinions, Enny and Daniel’s positions are considered to be included in the composition of the majority of judges who agreed to change the minimum age requirements for presidential and vice presidential candidates together with Anwar Usman, Guntur Hamzah, and Manahan Sitompul in Decision 90.
Saldi said that because the panel of judges was divided in opinion, the proposal to postpone the issuance of this decision emerged.
However, registration for the 2024 presidential election is in sight. The Indonesian KPU is scheduled to open registration on 19-25 October 2023.
“Some of the judges who were members of the train agreed that some of them seemed to be in the middle of a race with the stages of the general election for president and vice president. So the person concerned continued to push and seemed too eager to quickly decide on the a quo case,” concluded Saldi.
KOMPAS.com / VITORIO MANTALEAN
Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court (MK) Anwar Usman.
Arief Hidayat: evil cosmology, mourning, reshuffle ideas
Arief reportedly violated ethics because he made many public comments about MK kitchen secrets on various occasions.
In his dissenting opinion, for example, Arief explained in detail the odd reasons why Chief Justice Anwar Usman did not participate in deciding the three initial lawsuits over the ages of the presidential and vice presidential candidates.
The first version is that Anwar is said to be absent because he is avoiding a conflict of interest. In the second version, Anwar actually admitted that he was absent due to illness.
“It is an action that in my opinion is beyond reason and can be accepted by reasonable reasoning,” said the former Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court in his dissenting opinion.
Also read: 3 Findings in the Constitutional Court Judges’ Code of Ethics Hearing, What Are They?
He even criticized the Constitutional Court’s slow attitude in hearing the three initial complaints and thought the Court was stalling for time.
“I feel that there is a negative cosmology and anomaly in the five a quo cases which I need to convey because this disturbs my conscience as a judge who must show an attitude of integrity, independence and impartiality, and free from any political interference,” said Arief.
After Decision 90 was signed, Arief spoke twice in public commenting on the negative sentiment currently being suffered by the Court.
“I actually came here a bit embarrassed. I wore black because I, as a constitutional judge, was in mourning because at the Constitutional Court there had just been a riot,” said Arief when giving a speech at the National Law Conference organized by the National Legal Development Agency on Wednesday (25/ 10/2023).
Also read: PDI-P Admits Not to Interfere with the Constitutional Court’s Proposed Right to Inquiry
Then, Arief also expressed his opinion to the media crew that, perhaps, only a change in the composition of the panel of constitutional judges could restore the MK’s reputation in the eyes of the public.
“In my mind, recently, it seems like the Constitutional Court’s nine-nine judges have to be reshuffled. It’s come to that point,” said Arief when confirmed by Kompas.com on Monday (30/10/2023).
He is worried that the Constitutional Court is currently unable to deal with various public criticism due to decisions that are considered full of conflicts of interest. Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court will later be tasked with adjudicating disputes over the results of the general election.
Also read: Jimly considers the KPU circular to be sufficient follow-up to the Constitutional Court’s decision
“The Constitutional Court is the biological child of reform which tries to be the interpreter of the constitution in order to eliminate corruption, collusion and nepotism. This must be eradicated, this must no longer exist in Indonesia. But how come there is a trend in that direction,” concluded Arief, who at the beginning of 2023 had competing fiercely with Anwar Usman as candidate for Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court.
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2023-11-03 01:05:00
#Speak #Saldi #IsraArief #Hidayat #Dismantles #MKs #Internal #Tempest #Kompas.com
