FH UI Students For Material Test Applicants At The Constitutional Court Question Domicile Candidates For Regional Heads

BETWEEN/HO-Humas MK/Bayu

JAKARTA - The applicant for the judicial review of Article 7 paragraph (2) of the Pilkada Law, Abu Rizal Biladina, questioned the provisions of the domicile of regional head candidates because they were not explicitly regulated in the article.

"The Petitioner feels aggrieved by constitutional rights with the enactment of Article 7 paragraph (2) which does not clearly state requiring locality of regional leaders," Abu said in a preliminary examination hearing at the Constitutional Court as reported by ANTARA, Monday, September 9.

According to the student of the Faculty of Law, University of Indonesia, there were two potential losses that he experienced due to the implementation of Article 7 paragraph (2) of the Pilkada Law.

First, he considered, the article does not contain elements of locality of regional head candidates, so it has the potential to raise regional heads who do not have sensitivity to developing issues in the area.

"No element of locality will have an impact on policies in regional development that are not based on locality values, the approach is not in accordance with local conditions," said Abu.

Second, he highlighted the fact that many participants and regional election winners did not come from the area. This condition, according to him, has the potential to harm the indigenous people of the area.

Abu believes that regional heads are an element of the representation of leaders from an area, so they should be chosen based on domicile to ensure that the candidates understand regional problems.

Abu said that the political dynamics in Indonesia tend to make cadres close to the party elite at the national level as candidates for regional heads.

This condition causes cadres at the regional level, who are consistent in building areas and are known to the public, to be hindered by cadres whose positions are closer to the central leadership council even though the cadres are not sons/ daughters of the region.

"The Petitioner only hopes that the Constitutional Court as the guardian of the constitution will save the regional elections in order to avoid transactional national political elites from intervening in the regional elections," he said.

On that basis, Abu asked the Constitutional Court that Article 7 paragraph (2) of the Pilkada Law be added provisions regarding the domicile of regional head candidates and candidates for deputy regional heads, which reads:

'Located in an area where there are at least 5 (five) years before the determination of the candidate.'

The preliminary hearing of Case Number 118/PUU-XXII/2024 was chaired by Deputy Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Saldi Isra. The panel of judges gave Abu the opportunity to improve his application within 14 days.