When all supervisional instruments are weak, power can no longer be controlled. Thus, policies that only benefit the government or parties close to the government will be more easily produced.
By
Bivitri Susanti
·5 minutes read
SALOMO TOBING
Bivitri Susanti
What is more dangerous than a ruler who has political ruling with bullets and tanks? The answer: a ruler who abuses his power to make profits by using legal instruments. This situation is more dangerous because many of us do not feel this injustice as everything is neatly packaged as a legal product.
These days we are treated with various controversial legal issues. Like the birth of a Government Regulation in Lieu of Law (Perppu) on Job Creation and the replacement of Constitutional Justice Aswanto because his decision was against the wishes of lawmakers. The two events appear to be issued in legal form, not through physical violence or weapons. However, violations of the morality of the constitution and the practice of democracy are clearly seen.
In the case of the Perppu on Job Creation, for example, a legal facility intended to overcome the coercive urgency is issued solely to "provide legal certainty for investors" (a quote from a press conference by the Coordinating Economic Minister on Dec. 30, 2022). Meanwhile, the “urgency” that is used as an excuse was an economic crisis, not an immediate threat as required in the application of an emergency state, such as a war or a natural disaster.
The Perppu is certainly comfortable for the government, which does not want its policies to be discussed in advance with the people's representatives or in the public's eyes. For this reason, the Perppu can only be issued in a truly precarious situation.
The Perppu on Job Creation is only one of the symptoms of the implementation of authoritarianism packaged as a law. In political literature and constitutional law records, phenomena like this are becoming a global trend because it is easily hidden. This phenomenon is called "Autocratic Legalism," namely the use of a law to legitimize non-democratic actions (Corales, 2015; Scheppele, 2018). The initial step is an attack planned by the authorities against institutions whose task is to oversee power. When constitutional restrictions are loosened, the authorities will easily use legal instruments so that their actions seem to be truthful, when in fact they have violated the principle of the rule of law even in moving toward authoritarianism (Scheppele, 2018).
In Indonesia, four power supervisory institutions have been weakened in advance. First, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), which has been weakened and politicized since the revision of the KPK Law in 2019. Second, the “opposition” group in the DPR has been weakened through cabinet recruitment and other legal methods. Third, civil society is constantly weakened in legal ways, physical attacks or through technology, such as hacking and doxing. Finally, this phenomenon was fulfilled with the attack of the independence of the Constitutional Court, with the replacement of a Justice, which will be legalized by the revision of the Constitutional Court Law that will soon be discussed.
When all supervisional instruments are weak, power can no longer be controlled. Thus, policies that only benefit the government or parties close to the government will be more easily produced, such as the Perppu on Job Creation, the Law on the Capital City and Mineral and Coal Laws. The oppressed are the people who do not have any power and do not have resources to make solutions.
Do not forget, whether certain rights can easily be taken are determined by the existence of documents. Meanwhile, the documentation of rights must often be "purchased." The right to customary land, for example, is easily crushed by plantation companies, solely because indigenous people do not have the resources to document their rights. Entrepreneurs can even "buy" certificates through the land mafia.
The law should be made to balance the situation between the authorities and ordinary citizens. Because power has the potential to be used excessively, the law is conceptualized as a facility to protect rights and be applied to everyone, including the authorities. That is the rule of law that is constructed. The rule of law or Rechtsstaat actually talks about human rights that must be the foundation of the state and restrictions on excessiveness on the authorities. The rule of law does not only mean that the state is governed by law. Therefore, to oppose the phrase “rule of law” (Rechtsstaat) is the power state (Machtstaat).
The initial conception of the rule of law vanished with the existence of political facts about the creation of law. When the process of making laws is dominated by politicians who want to make profits from the policies they make themselves, the laws that are born are only those that serve their interests.
If the Perppu on Job Creation is silenced, do not be surprised if many things come into discussion. But it is not possible that it would suddenly be published constitutionally. Issues such as the postponement of the 2024 general elections or the amendment for a three-term presidential office could come through. Cunning politicians could appear with high confidence if resistance to authoritarianism is packaged in minimal law.
