Jokowi Will Candidate Guntur Hamzah Become A Constitutional Court Judge At The Palace Today

Constitutional Justice Guntur Hamzah greets council members while attending the 7th DPR Plenary Session Period I of the 2022-2023 Session Year at the Parliament Complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Thursday (29/9/2022). (ANTARA PHOTO/Galih Pradipta/YU)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) will inaugurate Guntur Hamzah as a judge of the Constitutional Court (MK). Guntur replaces Constitutional Justice Aswanto based on the results of the plenary meeting of Commission III of the DPR on Monday 29 September.

Deputy for Protocol, Press and Media of the Presidential Secretariat Bey Machumudin said the inauguration would be held at the State Palace in Jakarta, today, Wednesday, November 23.

"Yes, this morning," he said when asked by reporters in Jakarta, Wednesday, November 23, as reported by Antara.

Previously, an internal meeting of Commission III of the DPR decided not to extend the term of office of the Constitutional Court judge or constitutional judge from the DPR element, namely Aswanto, so that Guntur Hamzah was appointed as his replacement.

The reason for the removal, according to the Chairman of Commission III of the DPR, Bambang Wuryanto, was because Aswanto's performance was disappointing. Aswanto is said to have annulled the legislative product of the DPR.

Bambang also made an analogy between constitutional judges and the DPR such as the relationship between company directors and company owners. As the owner of the company, the DPR has the right to regulate the Constitutional Court judge; while as subordinates of the DPR, the Constitutional Court's decision must always be in accordance with the policies of the company owner.

For example, Bambang continued, in the judicial review of Law Number 11 of 2020 concerning Job Creation, d among eight other judges, Aswanto was one of the judges who stated that the Omnibus Law was against the conditional constitution.

Meanwhile, Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) said that the appointment of Guntur Hamzah to replace Aswanto as a constitutional judge of the Constitutional Court was a form of authoritarianism and legal disobedience.

ICW stated that the DPR crashed into the provisions of Article 24 paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia which guarantees the existence of the independence of the judiciary. The DPR is also considered contrary to Article 23 of Law Number 7 of 2020 concerning the Constitutional Court because Aswanto is not being dishonorably dismissed.

The DPR's attitude also violates Article 3 paragraph 1 of Law Number 48 of 2009 concerning Judicial Power which states that constitutional judges are obliged to maintain justice independence.

Meanwhile, LBH Jakarta said Aswanto's removal from the constitutional judge was a form of harassment of independence against freedom of justice power.

The unilateral dismissal of Aswanto by the DPR is a violation of the law because it refers to Article 19 of the Constitutional Court Law which requires the nomination of constitutional judges to be carried out in a transparent and participatory manner.