MK Asked to Refuse to Lower Minimum Age Requirements for Presidential/Vice Presidential Candidates

Perludem researcher, Kahfi Adlan Hafiz, assessed that there was no constitutionality issue in the minimum age requirement for a person to become a presidential and cawapres candidate. The Constitutional Court was asked to reject the judicial review of Article 169 letter q Law No 7/2017.

The following article was translated using both Microsoft Azure Open AI and Google Translation AI. The original article can be found in MK Diminta Tolak Turunkan Syarat Minimal Usia Capres/Cawapres

KOMPAS/HERU SRI KUMORO

The Constitutional Court building on Jalan Medan Merdeka Barat, Jakarta, Saturday (29/8/2020).

JAKARTA, KOMPAS - The Constitutional Court has been requested to reject the petition to lower the minimum age requirement for presidential and vice presidential candidates from 40 years old, as regulated by the Election Law, to 35 years old. The issue of minimum age requirement for public officials is not a matter of constitutionality that should be decided by the Constitutional Court, but it falls under the authority of the legislative body to regulate.

The Constitutional Court has been asked to reject the material test of Article 169 letter q of Law No. 7/2017 concerning Elections submitted by three parties. They are the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) et al. (Case No. 29/PUU-XXI/2023), the Garuda Party (Case No. 51/PUU-XXI/2023), and a number of regional heads, such as Mayor of Bukit Tinggi Erman Safar (Gerindra Party), Pandu Kesuma Dewangsa, and Emil Elestianto Dardak (Case No. 55/PUU-XXI/2023).

This was revealed by the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem), which is involved in the testing submitted by PSI. In addition to Perludem, the Constitutional Court also heard testimonies from the Gerindra Party, which is also involved in the case submitted by a number of regional heads. The hearing was chaired by the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, Anwar Usman.

Perludem researcher, Kahfi Adlan Hafiz, assessed that there was no constitutionality issue in the minimum age requirement for a person to become a presidential and cawapres candidate. The Petitioner argued that intolerable discrimination had occurred in setting the minimum age requirement to run for president/wapres and asked that this requirement be reduced from 40 years to 35 years. The Petitioner cited the age grouping according to the Ministry of Health that between the ages of 36 and 40 years is the final adult age group.

However, Perludem sees that setting the age limit of 35 years as requested by the applicant is also a form of discrimination or ageism if you use the same logic. Thus, the matter of the minimum requirements for nomination is not a matter of age discrimination.

Setting the age limit of 35 years as requested by the applicant is also a form of discrimination or ageism if using the same logic. Thus, the matter of the minimum requirements for nomination is not a matter of age discrimination.

KOMPAS/HENDRA A SETYAWAN

The Constitutional Court held a substantive examination hearing of Law No. 7 of 2017 concerning General Elections on Tuesday (1/8/2023) in Jakarta. The substantive examination pertained to Article 169 letter q of Law No. 7 of 2017 which limits the minimum age to 40 years for presidential and vice presidential candidates.

Also read: For the 31st Time, the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Candidate Threshold Requirements are Tested to the Constitutional Court

Perludem also reminded the previous Constitutional Court decisions related to similar issues (minimum age of public officials). For example, the Constitutional Court's decision number 15/PUU-XV/2017 regarding the age requirement for regional head candidates. The Constitutional Court considered that the 1945 Constitution did not specify a certain minimum age limit. Thus, the 1945 Constitution left the determination of the age limit to the legislators to regulate it or as an open legal policy (open legal policy).

Similar decisions are also found in decision number 37 / PUU-VIII / 2010 which regulates the age requirements for the leadership of the Corruption Eradication Commission, decision number 49 / PUU-IX / 2011 regarding the minimum age requirement to become a constitutional judge, and finally decision number 58 / PUU-XVII / 2019 on the minimum age requirement for candidates for governor / deputy governor, regent / deputy regent, and mayor / deputy mayor.

"Based on a comparison of several rulings, the court considers that there is no violation of constitutional rights in each argument related to the minimum age limit. This is because the 1945 Constitution does not regulate a specific age for filling public office. Therefore, the age requirement applied in the nomination of the president and vice president can also be seen as a requirement given for public office, just like the previous requirements that were tested in the rulings compared earlier," said Kahfi.

The 1945 Constitution does not regulate a specific age for filling public office.

Looking at the original intent side regarding the minimum age requirements for presidential and cawapres candidates in the amendments to the 1945 Constitution, the petitioner cited Soewarno's opinion from the PDI-P faction and the representative of Parisada Hindu Dharma Indonesia, Ida Bagus Gunada, at the 1st BP MPR PAH Meeting to -24 who proposed Article 6 Paragraph (1) so that the president and vice president are Indonesian citizens who are at least 35 years old.

However, according to Kahfi, apart from these two figures, there were several other representatives who proposed the minimum age requirement for the president and vice president. Irma Alamsyah, for example, suggested a minimum age of 40 years and a maximum of 65 years. Hamdan Zoelva from the Crescent Star Party faction and Sudiarto from the Utusan Golongan faction also proposed the same minimum age. Apart from that, Lukman Hakim Saifuddin from the United Development Party faction also proposed that these requirements be regulated at the law level only, not the Constitution. Until finally, it was agreed that Article 6 Paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution read as follows: "The conditions for becoming president and vice president are further regulated by law".

Young voters

Meanwhile, the Gerindra Party represented by Raka Gani Pissani requested that the request for testing Article 169 of the Election Law be granted. Lowering the minimum age limit for presidential/vice presidential candidates would be beneficial for the wider interests, especially in accommodating the voices of the people so that young people can run in future elections.

According to Raka Gani, the Constitutional Court (MK) needs to keep up with the demographic and political developments in Indonesia today. As is well known, the number of young voters is increasing significantly. Therefore, the participation and involvement of the younger generation is a necessity and a need to keep up with the times. This is also to prepare the younger generation as successors who will run the government in the future.

One way is by accommodating the younger generation to become presidential or vice presidential candidates to run in a general election.

"One of them is by accommodating the younger generation to become presidential or vice presidential candidates to run in one general election," said Raka Gani.

This is also in line with the study conducted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), which stated that the proportion of young voters (Generation Z and millennials) would be close to 60 percent in the upcoming elections. He added that this condition requires political parties to adapt to the development of the situation and conditions.

Also read: Open Space for Candidates During the Presidential Election

Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra responded to the Gerindra Party statement submitted by Raka Gani. He asked for a more concrete explanation of the efforts that have been made by the Gerindra Party in giving attention to the younger generation in the context of a transfer of leadership.

"It was stated earlier that this is evidence of Gerindra's commitment to the new generation, generation Z and the like. Please provide us with explanations related to it so that we can know, oh, this is apparently the efforts made by Gerindra to accommodate the aspirations of young generation," said Saldi."

In the previous hearing, the government and the DPR have given statements that essentially support the change of the minimum age limit to become presidential and vice presidential candidates. Both legislative bodies have fully delegated the regulation of this matter to the Constitutional Court.