Quo Vadis Constitutional Complaint in Indonesia: Authority and Discretion of Constitutional Judges

Abstract

The guarantee of citizens' constitutional rights is one of the conditions for realizing an excellent legal state. However, several studies show that there is no precise mechanism for filing constitutional complaints. Although since 2003, a Constitutional Court has been established. This article aims to describe the problems of filing a constitutional complaint in Indonesia. This article is based on doctrinal legal research with a statutory and conceptual approach. The results of this study indicate that there is no regulation that authorizes the handling of constitutional complaint cases to the Constitutional Court. Judges of the Constitutional Court are rigid in examining cases under their authority and have never exercised discretion over them. This condition has the potential to ignore the constitutional rights of citizens. So there is a need for an amendment to the 1945 Constitution and a revision to the Constitutional Court Law. However, this change requires political will from the authorities.