Regulations must reflect annulled articles: Expert<\/p>\n
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta<\/p>\n
A legal observer has urged the Constitutional Court to order
\nstate institutions to follow up its ruling annulling contentious
\narticles of law by scrapping regulations involving such articles.<\/p>\n
"They should notify other institutions to follow up their
\nruling. It would be a waste of time and energy if people must
\nfile for judicial review with the court or the Supreme Court to
\ncomply with the ruling," Benny K. Harman said after a discussion
\nhere on Friday.<\/p>\n
He was referring to the Court's ruling annulling an article of
\nLaw No. 12\/2003 on legislative election that bans former members
\nof the now-defunct Indonesia Communist Party (PKI) from joining
\nthe election.<\/p>\n
There are some 250 regulations, in the form of either laws,
\npresidential decrees, government decrees and others, that still
\ndiscriminate against former PKI members and their descendants.<\/p>\n
"The court should take an active role, otherwise their rulings
\nwill not be effective," Benny said.<\/p>\n
Court chief Jimly Asshidiqie told The Jakarta Post that his
\noffice has always notified other institutions about the rulings
\nof the Constitutional Court.<\/p>\n
"The state gazette records our rulings and it is available to
\nthe public. Other institutions use our rulings as a benchmark to
\nissue regulations," he said.<\/p>\n
However, he said it was not possible for other institutions,
\nincluding the House of Representatives, to automatically annul
\ncertain articles based on the court's ruling.<\/p>\n
"It is on a case-by-case basis. An annulment of certain
\narticles in a law cannot be used to annul other laws and
\nregulations in general," he said.<\/p>\n
Jimly referred to Germany, a state that bans former Nazis from
\nbecoming ministers although they are allowed to enter the
\nparliament.<\/p>\n
"There are different legal arguments for each law. To be a
\nlegislator requires certain conditions that are different from
\nthat of public officials," he said.<\/p>\n
A number of plaintiffs are now waiting for the court's ruling
\non their request to annul several articles of Law No. 23\/2003 on
\npresidential election banning former members of the PKI to run
\nfor public office.<\/p>\n
In February, the court took a historic decision to annul an
\narticle in Law No. 12\/2003, paving the way for former PKI members
\nto become legislative candidates. The amendment to the law has
\nbeen seen as more progressive than Election Law No. 3\/1999, which
\nonly restored former PKI members' rights to vote.<\/p>\n
Some parties have suggested that the government scrap all
\ndiscriminatory regulations against them after the issuance of the
\nlaw.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been
\nkilled after the 1965 coup blamed on the communists. Millions of
\nsuspected PKI members were sent to prison without trial.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/regulations-must-reflect-annulled-articles-expert-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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