Formappi Considers The DPR's Letter Rights To The Constitutional Court To Be Inaccurate, Judicial Can't Be Investigated By Political Institutions

JAKARTA - The proposal for the right of inquiry to the Constitutional Court (MK) regarding the decision on the age limit for the vice presidential candidate made by a member of the PDIP faction of the DPR, Masinton Pasaribu, has drawn the pros and cons. Some even reported Masinton to the Honorary Court of the Council (MKD) because it was considered a violation of the code of ethics because it was considered harassing the Constitutional Court.

Regarding the polemic, researcher of the Indonesian Parliamentary Care Forum (Formappi) Lucius Karus, assessed that the use of the DPR's right to inquiry against the Constitutional Court was not appropriate. This is because the right of inquiry is used for supervision of the executive.

"Almost all constitutional experts consider the DPR's right to inquiry as a legislative control instrument to the executive, while the Constitutional Court enters a judicial room. In principle, the work of a judicial institution should not be investigated by political institutions such as the DPR," Lucius told reporters, Friday, November 3.

According to Lucius, the issue related to inquiry to the Constitutional Court is more of an elite issue. Meanwhile, the requirements for vice presidential candidates are not directly correlated with the interests of the people. Moreover, the DPR, which works on the basis of certain political interests, clearly cannot be neutral in assessing a decision, especially those that intersect with the world of politics.

"Therefore, I think regarding the Constitutional Court's decision regarding the requirements for presidential and vice-presidential candidates, it is clearly not the right object to be used as an excuse for the use of inquiry by the DPR," said Lucius.

"If the DPR was really the people's representative, previously there were so many issues related to government policies that were directly related to the people, which should have encouraged the use of the right to inquiry. But because previously the coalition supporting the government was dominant, the problematic government policies were justified by the DPR," he added.

It is known that the Constitutional Court (MK) made a controversial decision because it granted a partial request regarding the age limit of the vice presidential candidate, with exceptions for those who had been public officials, including regional heads.

This decision is a red carpet for the Mayor of Solo who is also the eldest son of President Joko Widodo, as well as the nephew of the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, Anwar Usman. The Constitutional Court is considered to have passed dynastic politics and was criticized by the community and constitutional law activists.

In the aftermath of the Constitutional Court's decision, a member of the DPR from the PDIP faction, Masinton Pasaribu, then proposed that the DPR use its right of inquiry to the Constitutional Court.

However, Formappi considered this proposal inappropriate. According to Lucius, there are still many issues that directly touch the interests of the people which should be sought to apply for the right of inquiry.

"I think as citizens, we always support the strong DPR in terms of using all their authority based on the law. There are many people's issues that should have been enough to create the use of angket, but the DPR is sluggish. Eh, now when it comes to election affairs, the DPR seems to have just started working," concluded Lucius.