MPR Chairman Calls For Revision Of Constitutional Court Law

Jakarta, Nov 18 (Antara) - The Speaker of the People`s Consultative Assembly Sidarto Danusubroto has suggested that the Law governing the Constitutional Court (MK) should be revised to prevent the concentration of power in the hands of a handful of MK judges, who hold the authority to repeal laws. "In a judicial review, only five to six of the nine MK judges are needed to secure the majority of votes and to cancel articles in a law which are produced by 550 members of the House of Representatives (DPR)," Sidarto pointed out during a discussion organized by the Setara Institute on the MK and protection of the people`s constitutional rights on Monday. He added that any articles in a law, which were facing a judicial review, should be returned to the DPR to be improved, so that the judicial tests on them are conducted not only by the MK through a judicial review, but also by the House through a legislative review. "If, for example, there are three articles of a law facing a judicial review at the MK, they should be returned to the DPR for improvement and the legislative body should submit them again to the MK for a review," Sidarto noted. He also related an experience from 2004 when the MK had cancelled all articles in the Law on the Commission of Truth and Reconciliation. At the time, Sidarto was the Chairman of the special committee which had produced the law. "At that time, there was a request for a judicial review of two articles in the Law on Commission of Truth and Reconciliation. But the MK cancelled all of the articles in the law," he stated. "By the time they repealed the law, I protested because the MK had cancelled articles other than the requested ones (for judicial review)," he added. Therefore, Sidarto suggested, the authority of the MK should be reviewed and studied further to avoid handing too much power to the MK judges.