Anita Rachman & Ulma Haryanto – The government and House of Representatives have agreed to a set of amendments that would effectively limit the powers of the Constitutional Court, a move legal experts have called "unconstitutional."

After meeting with the House Legislation Body on Tuesday, Patrialis Akbar, the justice and human rights minister, said the amendments were simply aimed at returning the function of the Constitutional Court to its basic mandate.

The court, arguably the most respected judicial institution in the country, is the final arbiter of constitutional matters, with the power to revoke laws deemed unconstitutional.

The problem, according to lawmakers and the government, is that the court, headed by the outspoken Mahfud MD, has at times gone beyond its basic mandate.

Patrialis said the amendments, which would be passed in the next House plenary session, would forbid the court from issuing verdicts that are ultra petita, a Latin term meaning "beyond the request."

For instance, one legal expert who declined to be named said that a court ruling in 2010 that annulled the result of a district election in West Kotawaringin, Central Kalimantan, went too far because it also awarded the victory to the runner-up.

"The verdict should have just annulled the results and called for a second round of voting, like it did with the South Tangerang elections," the expert said, referring to another poll dispute the court ruled on earlier this year.

Nurul Arifin, from Golkar Party, said it was important to draw a clear line on the court's powers. "It must not decide something beyond its authority," she said. "It must not act like a god."

Mahfud declined to comment on the issue, but former Constitutional Court Chief Justice Jimly Asshiddiqie said the changes were unconstitutional and would deny the court of its main function.

"The term 'ultra petita' is only applicable to the civic court, and not to constitutional [issues]," Jimly said. "Judicial reviews are born from ultra petita. This is silly, they haven't learned anything from their overseas trips," Jimly said, referring to the lawmakers.

Another amendment would see a lawmaker and a member of the Judicial Commission included into the Constitutional Court Honorary Council, which Jimly again disagreed with. "[The Judicial Commission] has no business with [the Constitutional Court]. It oversees courts under the Supreme Court, and the Constitutional Court is not," he explained.

A third amendment would prevent the court from changing articles in a law it deemed unconstitutional – it can throw out an entire law or annul certain articles, but not clarify the regulation in question.

"If there's something incorrect in the law, the House will revise it," Patrialis said. "The Constitutional Court will no longer have the right to [fill in the blanks in the law]."

In 2009, the court annulled the 2009 Education Legal Entity Law, rocking the nation's education system, as it was the first time in Indonesian history that a law, issued to cut government spending, was scrapped in its entirety.

Syarifuddin Sudding, a People's Conscience Party (Hanura) lawmaker, denied the changes would weaken the court. "We are just drawing a clearer line of what its responsibilities are."