Jimly Asshiddiqie Criticises DPR's Summoning of Constitutional Court Ethics Council
Former Constitutional Court Chief Justice Jimly Asshiddiqie has said the Constitutional Court Ethics Council (MKMK) should not have attended a summons by the House of Representatives (DPR) regarding the examination of a complaint against Constitutional Court Justice Adies Kadir. His reasoning is that the MKMK is not subject to parliamentary oversight.
“Especially in case-related matters,” he said when contacted on Thursday, 19 February 2026.
Jimly stated that the MKMK’s duty to uphold the Constitutional Court’s code of ethics can only apply once Adies is serving as a constitutional court justice. The MKMK should have directly and openly announced its position on the complaint against Adies.
He agreed with Commission III of the DPR, which asked the MKMK not to interfere in the DPR’s internal affairs.
The DPR had nominated Adies Kadir to replace Constitutional Court Justice Arief Hidayat, who completed his term on 3 February 2026. However, the nomination process was called into question because the DPR abruptly put forward Adies at the end of January.
Previously, the DPR had designated Inosentius Samsul as its nominee for the Constitutional Court in mid-2025.
Adies Kadir’s appointment proceeded smoothly through to his swearing-in before President Prabowo Subianto at an inauguration ceremony at the State Palace in Jakarta on 5 February 2026. The day after his inauguration, 21 legal practitioners and academics belonging to the Constitutional and Administrative Law Society (CALS) reported Adies Kadir to the MKMK on suspicion of ethical violations.
On Wednesday, Commission III of the DPR, which oversees legal affairs, specifically summoned the MKMK to discuss the council’s stance on the ethics complaint filed by the civil society coalition against Adies Kadir.
On the same day, the Parliamentary Ethics Council also held a press conference to affirm that Adies’s appointment as a DPR-nominated constitutional court justice had met all requirements.
During a plenary session of the House of Representatives on Thursday, DPR Speaker Puan Maharani affirmed that the MKMK cannot follow up on the civil society coalition’s complaint against Adies Kadir.
“The Constitutional Court Ethics Council does not have the authority to follow up on complaints related to the process and mechanism for selecting constitutional court justices by all nominating institutions, including that carried out by the DPR regarding Adies Kadir,” Puan Maharani said during the plenary session at the DPR complex in Jakarta on Thursday, 19 February 2026.
Puan said the selection of Adies Kadir falls within the DPR’s authority as stipulated in Article 24C paragraph 3 of the 1945 Constitution. The DPR considers the nomination and ratification process for Adies Kadir as a constitutional court justice to be in accordance with existing regulations. On that basis, the DPR asserted that the MKMK has no right to process the complaint concerning the former Golkar Party politician.