Coalition Sues Prabowo at State Administrative Court, Demands ART Cancellation

A coalition of civil society organisations filed a Lawsuit for Unlawful Government Action (Onrechtmatige Overheidsdaad) at the State Administrative Court (PTUN) Jakarta on Wednesday, 11 March 2026. The lawsuit targets President Prabowo Subianto’s signing of the Indonesia-United States Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) without parliamentary approval and without meaningful public participation.

Bhima Yudhistira Adhinegara, coalition member and Executive Director of the Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS), argued that the President’s action violated Article 11 of the 1945 Constitution, Articles 2 and 10 of Law Number 24 of 2000 on International Treaties, and breached the General Principles of Good Governance (AAUPB) as regulated in Article 10 of Law Number 30 of 2014 on Government Administration.

The lawsuit was accompanied by a request for provisional measures asking PTUN Jakarta to suspend implementation of the ART during court proceedings until a legally binding decision is issued.

Bhima stated that the ART is an agreement that fundamentally changes the direction of Indonesia’s economic policy, shifting from national sovereignty to structural dependency on United States interests. “This is not merely a procedural violation, this is a constitutional betrayal,” Bhima said in an official statement on Wednesday, 11 March 2026.

Previously, CELIOS submitted a Letter of Objection Number 039/CELIOS/II/2026 to the President on 23 February 2026, received by the State Secretariat Ministry on the same day. Under Article 77 paragraph (4) of Law 30/2014, the President was given a maximum of 10 working days to respond to the objection, but by the deadline of 9 March 2026, the President provided no response, resolved no objection, and took no concrete action whatsoever.

This fact strengthened the legal grounds for the lawsuit. Based on Article 4 paragraphs (1) and (2) of Supreme Court Regulation Number 2 of 2019, the coalition had 90 working days from 9 March 2026 to file the lawsuit, which was officially registered on 11 March 2026, just two days after the President’s response deadline expired.

Muhamad Saleh, Legal Researcher at CELIOS, stated that the President’s action in signing the ART without following ratification procedures and without parliamentary approval clearly violated Law Number 24 of 2000 on International Treaties. PTUN Jakarta has full authority to adjudicate government actions as regulated in Decision Number 230/G/TF/2019/PTUN-JKT. “We request the court declare the President’s action unlawful and order its cancellation,” he said.

Based on analysis in the lawsuit, there are 16 imbalanced points in the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade that harm Indonesia. One provision requires Indonesia to import oil and gas from the US worth US$15 billion (equivalent to Rp 253.3 trillion). This is considered to trigger a widening of the trade balance deficit in energy resources.

Nany Afrida, Chair of the Indonesian Journalists Alliance (AJI), stated that the ART is a real threat to press freedom and journalism sustainability in Indonesia. A clause prohibiting US digital platforms from contributing to national media is tantamount to allowing the domestic press ecosystem to die gradually. “The public has the right to quality information, and that can only be guaranteed if our media is economically healthy,” she said.

Rahmat Maulana Sidik, Executive Director of Indonesia for Global Justice (IGJ), added that the coalition submitted 33 points of objection to the President and Indonesian Parliament regarding the ART. These objections stem from the ART’s real impacts including threats to public access to medicines, restriction of farmers’ rights to seeds, and environmental damage from US company mining expansion in Indonesia. “The government even signed 11 memoranda of understanding with US companies without consulting Parliament. This is a legal violation that cannot be tolerated,” he said.

Additionally, the trade agreement presents multilayered impacts for women and vulnerable groups. Armayanti Sanusi, Chair of the National Executive Board (BEN) of the Women’s Solidarity Alliance, stated that the ART has the potential to deepen liberalisation of strategic sectors, weaken labour protection, and create broader space for exploitation of Indonesia’s natural resources.

In the context of Indonesia still affected by the Omnibus Law on Job Creation, the ART will worsen women’s vulnerability, ranging from increased low-wage labour, destruction of livelihoods, to growing reproductive work burdens unprotected by the state. The Women’s Solidarity Alliance specifically noted that fishing subsidies eliminated through the ART threaten the sustainability of 2.7 million small-scale fishers and directly expand inequality for women involved in catch processing and household economic management. “The enforcement of ratification of the UPOV Convention 1991 also has the potential to threaten local agricultural sovereignty, which has long been supported by women farmers as guardians of local seeds,” she said.

In the officially registered lawsuit, the coalition requests the PTUN Jakarta panel of judges to grant the plaintiff’s request for provisional measures in full and suspend implementation of the ART signed on 19 February 2026 until a legally binding decision is issued.

In the substantive case, the panel of judges is requested to grant the entire lawsuit and declare that the President’s action approving and/or ratifying the ART constitutes unlawful action by a government official. “Then impose costs on the defendant to pay all costs incurred in the case,” she said.

The coalition members consist of the Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS), the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), Indonesia for Global Justice (IGJ), the Women’s Solidarity Alliance, WALHI National, and Trend Asia.