The Government Calls The Age Limit Terms For The KPK Commissioner Who Was Sued By Nurul Ghufron To The Constitutional Court Still Relevant

Deputy Chairperson of the KPK, Nurul Ghufron. (Tsa Tsia-VOI)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Law and Human Rights (Kemenkumham) explained the reasons for applying age limits for candidates for the leadership of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) after being sued by the Deputy Chairperson of the KPK, Nurul Ghufron, to the Constitutional Court (MK).

"The lowest and highest age regulation, according to the government's savings, is not related to constitutionality issues," said Director General of Human Rights at the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, Mualimin Abdi, representing the government in Jakarta, Tuesday, February 21, as reported by Antara.

Mualimin explained this before the Constitutional Court Panel of Judges as a government representative in case Number 112 / PUU-XX / 2022 related to the judicial review of Law Number 19 of 2019 concerning the Second Amendment to Law Number 30 of 2002 concerning the Corruption Eradication Commission sent by Nurul Ghufron.

In front of the Constitutional Court Panel of Judges chaired by Anwar Usman, Mualimin said that the age limit setting is related to open legal policies or policy options that can be changed by legislators at any time, in this case the DPR and the government.

This is, of course, based on the needs of the law, community needs or things that really need to be regulated to increase or reduce related to the requirements to become the head of an anti-corruption agency.

Regarding the provisions of Article 34 of the Law, the government considers this not to be an article that was changed in the law in question. The reason, explained Mualimin, is that the existence of the article is still considered relevant and valid.

However, he continued, the provision experienced the meaning of the KPK leadership, both those appointed simultaneously as well as the replacement leaders appointed to replace someone, hold positions for four years and after that can be re-elected for one term.

Nurul Ghufron sued Law Number 19 of 2019 in particular Article 29 e and Article 34 against Article 28 D Paragraph (1) Paragraph (2), Paragraph (3) and Article 28 I Paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia.

One of the points questioned by Nurul Ghufron is Article 29 which regulates the requirements for limiting age to become a member of the KPK. In this article, the KPK leadership candidate is regulated to be at least 50 years old and a maximum of 65 years during the election process.

Meanwhile, Nurul Ghufron is only 49 years old in September 2023. This means that the deputy chairman of the anti-corruption agency does not meet the requirements if he wants to return to running for the leadership of the KPK whose term of office will end in December 2023.