Annul Decision to Replace Justice

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI

Constitutional Court deputy chief justice Aswanto

The House of Representatives (DPR) has been asked to take heed and annul its decision to replace Constitutional Court deputy chief justice Aswanto, with the calls coming from inside the DPR.

JAKARTA , KOMPAS — The House of Representatives (DPR) has been called on to overturn its decision to replace Constitutional Court deputy chief justice Aswanto, as the decision is not only unconstitutional and violates the law, but could also damage the constitutional democracy that has been developing throughout the reform era.

"The DPR must take heed and listen to the voices of the people, scientists, [and] constitutional law experts to annul (the decision)," Herlambang P. Wiratraman, a law lecture at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, said on Sunday (2/10/2022) when contacted from Jakarta.

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At the DPR plenary meeting on Thursday (29/9), Aswanto’s replacement by Constitutional Court secretary-general Guntur Hamzah was approved.

The move to replace Aswanto has drawn criticism from various circles, because aside from the fact that it was sudden and occurred quickly, it is also deemed a violation of the Constitutional Court Law as well as the 1945 Constitution.

This also highlighted the growing autocracy in the House of Representatives.

Herlambang called the move to replace the Constitutional Court justice without a valid reason as unconstitutional and contrary to the principle of judicial independence. This also highlighted the growing autocracy in the House of Representatives.

KOMPAS/PRAYOGI DWI SULISTYO

Nasir Djamil, a member of House Commission III.

Nasir Djamil, a member of House Commission III from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) faction, urged that the decision to replace Aswanto be reevaluated. This was because the mechanism of replacement employed by the DPR did not refer to the Constitutional Court Law. For example, the candidates for replacing Constitutional Court deputy chief justice Aswanto had not been disclosed for receiving public input.

Misinterpretation

Another reason was that the letter from the Constitutional Court to the DPR contained only a notification regarding the end of the terms of three Constitutional Court justices that the DPR had appointed according to the new Constitutional Court Law. The letter did not ask the DPR to evaluate the justices.

However, the content of the letter was misinterpreted as a request that Aswanto be evaluated. "We have to review this," said Nasir.

According to House Commission III member Benny K. Harman, from the Democratic Party faction, two factions that were not present when Commission III discussed the letter from the Constitutional Court, namely the PKS and the United Development Party. The Democrats, NasDem, and the National Mandate Party said they had not agreed to replace Aswanto.

The factions that agreed, according to Benny, were the PDI-P, Gerindra, Golkar, and the National Awakening Party.

However, because the opposing factions lost the vote, Commission III still approved the replacement and brought the results to the plenary meeting for ratification. The factions that agreed, according to Benny, were the PDI-P, Gerindra, Golkar, and the National Awakening Party.

Similar to Nasir, Benny was of the view that replacing Aswanto had violated the Constitutional Court Law, specifically Article 20, Paragraph (2) of the law. This article mandated that the process to select Constitutional Court justices must be objective, accountable, transparent and open, which the DPR had not done.

KOMPAS.COM/ABBA GABRILLIN

Taufik Basari, a member of House Commission III.

According to a House Commission III member Taufik Basari, from the NasDem faction, the DPR had completed its process and the final decision on replacing Aswanto rested with President Joko Widodo. "We are waiting for the President's stance, [either] immediately issuing a presidential decree or considering various aspects beforehand, especially the law [on the Constitutional Court]," he said.

On Friday (30/9), House Commission III chairman Bambang Wuryanto said Aswanto had been replaced because many of his decisions had not been in line with the DPR, which was in fact the institution that made proposals. (Kompas, 1/10/2022). (NIA)

(This article was translated by Hyginus Hardoyo)