Indonesia Law Review – Is the Conditionally Constitutional Doctrine Constitutional?

Indonesia Law Review recently published the academic paper of our Managing Partner, Pramudya A. Oktavinanda, titled “Is the Conditionally Constitutional Doctrine Constitutional?”. The paper discusses one of the most controversial doctrines developed by the Indonesian Constitutional Court which grants itself the authority to create new legal norms by imposing additional conditions on the provisions of a statute (undang-undang) even though those conditions are not explicitly stated in the body of the statute. One particular case that is highly relevant with this doctrine is the latest judicial review on the Indonesian Electricity Law which stated that unless read in a way that maintains the ability of the government to control the electricity business, the law will be deemed unconstitutional and therefore invalid. This creates ambiguities in implementation because the Constitutional Court does not always explain the conditions clearly and even more importantly, it is also questionable whether the Constitutional Court has such authority in the first place as discussed in more depth in the paper.

Please see the full text here.