Expert: Perppu is a constitutional option for Hajj flight cost scheme via state budget
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Constitutional law expert from Universitas Muslim Indonesia, Fahri Bachmid, stated that a Government Regulation in Lieu of Law (Perppu) is a constitutional option for the Hajj flight cost scheme via the state budget (APBN).
He assessed that the most constitutional legal basis and instrument for President Prabowo Subianto in taking extraordinary legal measures, in the form of issuing a Perppu, is to allocate approximately Rp1.77 trillion from the APBN for subsidising Hajj flight costs in 2026 as a consequence of bearing the surge in avtur prices and dollar exchange rate fluctuations,” Fahri said in a statement in Jakarta on Saturday.
According to him, a Perppu serves as a legal instrument for the government to act quickly and extraordinarily in emergency and urgent situations.
Thus, Fahri described the Perppu policy as a highly constitutional legal product of the president that is closely tied to the existence of objective and factual conditions.
Because, he continued, objectively, there is a law, but it is inadequate to anticipate the rise in avtur prices.
Meanwhile, on the other hand, he conveyed that Hajj pilgrims, as citizens in such a situation, must not become victims of those circumstances.
Fahri emphasised that the state has a fundamental responsibility to protect its citizens, especially when facing complex situations like the current one.
He said that the current conditions already meet the qualification of objective requirements for issuing a Perppu, as affirmed by the Constitutional Court (MK) in its decision number 138/PUU-VII/2009. In that decision, there are three parameters of “forcing urgency”.
First, there is an urgent need to resolve a legal issue quickly based on the law. Second, there is a legal vacuum, meaning the required law does not yet exist or the existing law is inadequate in addressing an objective situation.
It was stated that the Perppu enables the government to review the financing scheme, including the proposal to increase avtur prices that cause higher Hajj flight costs, to be covered by the APBN.
“For me, the decision on Hajj flight costs borne by the state is legally appropriate,” Fahri said.
Previously, the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah (Kemenhaj) has prepared a budget to cover the additional Rp1.77 trillion for Hajj pilgrimage costs, although the process is still ongoing to ensure the legal basis for the proposed budget use.
“We ensure that we will cover that additional budget request. Then the source, we are still discussing with friends in the DPR, especially regarding its legal basis,” said Irfan.
He assured that the government will not burden the prospective Indonesian Hajj pilgrims with that addition.