The Age Lawsuit For Presidential And Vice Presidential Candidates Is Not Constitutional Issues, Bivitri Asks The Constitutional Court To Apply Open Law

Illustration. Constitutional judge in the plenary courtroom of the Constitutional Court Building (MK), Jakarta. (Between-M Risyal Hidayat)

JAKARTA - Constitutional law expert Bivitri Susanti asked the Constitutional Court (MK) to be consistent with an open legal policy, aka open law in responding to a lawsuit for the age of nomination of presidential and vice-presidential candidates.

Bivitri views that this should be done by the Constitutional Court considering that the judicial review of Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning General Elections (Pemilu) is not a constitutional issue.

"The age provision as a requirement for presidential and vice presidential candidates is not a constitutional issue, so the Constitutional Court must be consistent with its decisions so far regarding open legal policies," said Bivitri in a follow-up hearing on the lawsuit against Law No. 7/2017 at the Constitutional Court Building, Jakarta, Tuesday, August 29, which was confiscated by Antara.

Bivitri said this as an expert on parties related to the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) in the follow-up trial of cases Number 29. 51, and 55 related to the Election Law.

Bivitri said the discourse regarding the age limit or also known as ageism emerged in situations outside the constitutional area. This, he continued, is because the minimum age limitation or maximum of politicians is not commonly strictly regulated.

"Political capacity of politicians, generally measured from its track record, not age. Various countries, therefore, apply different ages regarding the age limit, because so far there has been no scientific proof of the influence of age on political capacity and even performance," he explained.

He also highlighted the petitioner's argument which stated that the minimum age limit for presidential and vice presidential candidates for 40 years is correlated with injustice and discrimination. According to Bivitri, if the applicant's argument is so available, then the age limit should be completely abolished.

"If the main proposition is that age restrictions cause discrimination for some Indonesian citizens who are under 40 years old, then the conclusion in the sylogism should be to completely eliminate age limits, not reduce them," he said.

Restrictions on certain things, according to him, are actually allowed theologically; as ratified through Law Number 12 of 2005 concerning Ratification of the International Covant on Civil and Political Rights (International Conventions on Civil and Political Rights).

In fact, he continued, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) also gave similar comments regarding the existence of such age restrictions, namely the provision of age restrictions is possible if there is acceptable reasoning.

"The point is that I just want to underline the point that the comments are also given. For example, the ability to require a higher age, because the goal is not to discriminate, but to provide arrangements as long as there is sufficient reasoning," he said.

Ending his presentation, Bivitri said that the Constitutional Court should give a decision that is consistent with previous decisions.

"If there are changes that are considered important by the court, then the changes must be made after the 2024 election and by the legislators," he said.

Case Number 55/PUU-XXI/2023 was submitted by the Mayor of Bukittinggi Erman Safar and the Deputy Regent of South Lampung Pandu Kesuma Dewangsa. In their petitum, they sued Article 169 letter q of the Election Law relating to the presidential and vice presidential age limit.

Erman Safar and Pandu Kesuma Dewangsa asked that the phrase "at least 40 years old" in this article be changed to "at least 40 years old or have experience as a state administrator".

Then, case Number 51/PUU-XXI/2023 was submitted by Garuda Party Chairman Ahmad Ridha Sabana and Garuda Party DPP Secretary General Yohananna Murtika. Both sued Article 169 letter q of the Election Law.

In its petitum, Ahmad Ridha Sabana and Yohananna Murtika asked for the phrase "at least 40 years old" in the article to be "lowest 40 years old or experienced as regional head/deputy regional head".

Furthermore, case Number 29/PUU-XXI/2023, submitted by the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI), also sued the same article. PSI in its petitum asks that the age limit of the presidential and vice presidential candidates be changed to 35 years.