Conservative to replace Mahfud MD on cour

JAKARTA. Conservative Diponegoro University law professor Arief Hidayat has been named to fill the impending vacancy on the Constitutional Court (MK) after the term of chief justice Mahfud MD expires in April.

In a vote held after the conclusion of “fit-and-proper” tests on Monday night, Arief received 42 out of 54 votes cast by lawmakers on House of Representatives’ Commission III overseeing legal affairs and human rights.

Arief beat out two other candidates under consideration, Djafar Albram, a lecturer from Borobudur University who received 1 vote, and Sugianto, a lecturer in sharia at Gunung Jati State Islamic University who received 5 votes.

While Arief will succeed Mafhud on the bench, all nine Constitutional Court justices will convene to elect one of their peers as chief justice after Arief is sworn in, as stipulated by the 2011 Constitutional Court Law.

Arief made several controversial statements during the fit-and-proper hearings, telling lawmakers that “Indonesia should implement human rights that are compatible with the local context, instead of unconditionally implementing so-called ‘universal values’.”

He was responding to Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) lawmaker Adang Daradjatun, who asked if the nation should comply with universal standards of human rights as defined by the UN. 

Arief also said that atheism and same-sex marriage should be prohibited, claiming they contradicted the national ideology of Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution.

“Indonesia is a religious nation. Religious freedom in this country must uphold theistic principles,” he said. “The discussion about religious freedom is not about whether Indonesians can be atheists. All Indonesians should be believers.”

While same-sex marriage might be accepted in the US it could not be accepted in Indonesia, Arief said, since the nation’s authorized religions all defined as a union between a man and woman.

“I will make rulings as fairly as possible in accordance with the state ideology and the Constitution,” Arief told reporters after the hearing. “What we need is not just democracy, but democracy that brings benefits to the people.”

Wahyudin Djafar of the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam) said that the House’s fit-and-proper testing process had failed to produce credible candidates for the court.

“Areif has a good background, but his views and commitments raise concerns,” Wahyudin said.

Speaking to lawmakers during hearings on Monday, Djafar, who holds eight university degrees, became a target of a ridicule after failing to recite the five basic tenets of Pancasila.

Meanwhile, Sugianto said that the Constitutional Court had no jurisdiction to handle disputes related to regional election, saying such cases should be settled by the Supreme Court instead.

Six candidates were considered by the House, although three withdrew at the last minute: former law and human rights minister Patrialis Akbar, Indonesia Islamic University law lecturer Ni’matul Huda and Krisnadwipayana University rector Lodewijk Gultom.

Contacted separately, Mahfud said that he would leave the Consitutional Court in good shape, claiming that his eight incumbent peers were all good jurists and were each “fit to be chief justice”.

Mahfud previously said that Constitutional Court justices were guardians of the Constitution, when speaking at the launch of his memoir, Keep on Flowing.

“A justice should consider the Constitution as the foundation on which they will make their decisions and should be considered inviolable,” Mahfud said in the book.

(Ina Parline / The Jakarta Post)