On Adies Kadir Case, MKMK Urges Transparent Selection of Constitutional Court Judges

The Honour Council of the Constitutional Court (MKMK) urged the President, the House of Representatives (DPR) and the Supreme Court (MA) as nominating bodies to conduct the selection of constitutional court judges in an accountable and transparent manner. The recommendation is contained in the ruling in case MKMK/L/ARLTP/02/2026 concerning a report of alleged ethics violations by Constitutional Judge Adies Kadir. In the ruling, the MKMK said it was not authorised to process the report by the Constitutional and Administrative Law Society (CALS) seeking Adies’s dismissal on grounds that he was appointed without transparency and accountability. Although the ruling said it had no jurisdiction, the MKMK claimed it did not close its eyes to reports circulating in the public domain regarding Adies Kadir’s appointment as a constitutional judge through DPR’s nomination. However, the MKMK emphasised that the Constitutional Court Act requires every state body authorised to nominate constitutional judges to conduct the nomination process in a transparent and participatory manner. Moreover, the three nominating bodies must select constitutional court judges in an objective, accountable, transparent, and open manner. “If the process of selecting constitutional judges disregards these principles, within reasonable bounds of reasoning, it is certain to cause public uproar,” he said. The Honour Council also stressed that the Constitution’s provisions require transparency and participatory processes, and that the rejection of non-objective processes as public reaction is understandable. Therefore, regardless of whether this matter falls within the remit of the Honour Council or not, the stance should be seen as part of legitimate public oversight and should not be framed as hostility toward the institution empowered to nominate constitutional judges, he added. Member Yuliandri reiterated the limits of the powers of the DPR as the nominating body and MKMK as the ethics watchdog for constitutional judges. “These restrictions are important to respect the existence and powers of each state institution and to safeguard their independence,” he said. Yuliandri stated that MKMK is not authorised to intervene in the selection process for constitutional judges, including Adies Kadir, which has faced much controversy and public criticism. “Not only is the Honour Council without power, it is unethical to meddle or intervene. Even the Constitutional Court itself does not have the authority to intervene in the procedural stages of recruiting the constitutional judge in question,” he said. Consequently, the MKMK decided it had no jurisdiction to adjudicate the report of alleged ethics violations against Constitutional Judge Adies Kadir. “The Honour Council is not authorised to examine, adjudicate and decide the aforementioned report,” said MKMK Chairman I Dewa Gede Palguna as he read the ruling in the MKMK courtroom on Thursday (5/3). The MKMK explained that the scope of the examination is limited to during the period when the Respondent served as a Constitutional Judge. This also aligns with Sapta Karsa Hutama or the Code of Ethics and Conduct for Constitutional Judges, which provides the benchmarks for measuring alleged ethical violations. “Someone who has not yet served as a Constitutional Judge or who has completed their term as a Constitutional Judge is no longer bound by Sapta Karsa Hutama,” added Judge Ridwan Mansyur. Earlier, the MKMK was urged to dismiss Adies Kadir as a Constitutional Judge — who had just taken an oath before President Prabowo Subianto at the State Palace on Thursday (5 February) to replace Arief Hidayat. The request was made by the Constitutional and Administrative Law Society (CALS) after reporting the former Golkar politician to the MKMK. “Therefore, we also argued in our petition that the MKMK should consider imposing severe sanctions to dismiss him as a Constitutional Judge, given the strong potential for a conflict of interest,” CALS representative Yance Arizona said at the MKMK building on Friday (6 February).