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Rookie mistake: Students challenging KPK law pick on Marriage Law instead

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Jakarta Globe - November 29, 2019

Beritasatu, Jakarta – The Constitutional Court promptly rejected a judicial review request by a group of mostly university students who sought the annulment of the amended law on the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) because the plaintiffs had mentioned the wrong law.

A Constitutional Court justice said on Thursday the students had mentioned by mistake the 2019 Marriage Law in their proposal to revoke the amended KPK Law.

"The Court has carefully read the request by the plaintiffs and observed they had made a mistake by seeking a revocation of the Marriage Law No. 16/2019 instead of the second amendment to the KPK Law No. 30/2002. [The law they sought to revoke] was an amendment to the Marriage Law No. 1/1974," justice Enny Nurbangingsih said, explaining the court's decision.

"Accordingly, the plaintiffs' request has been pronounced to be erroneous," she said.

Chief justice Anwar Usman read out the final verdict to dismiss the request, which was lodged by 190 people, mostly students.

The group had appointed University of Indonesia law student Zico Leonard Djagardo Simanjuntak to represent them in the court. It was learned that Zico also works as a staff at the Jakarta Legislative Council.

"The request cannot be taken into further considerations because it carries an erroneous statement," the chief justice said.

The government and the House of Representatives had agreed to amend the law in September, triggering nationwide protests over allegations that the new law would cripple the respected anti-graft agency.

The amended law introduced an oversight body inside the commission, made it mandatory for all KPK staff to join the civil service and strip off the commissioners' once wide-ranging authority to investigate and prosecute corruption cases.

Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/news/rookie-mistake-students-challenging-kpk-law-pick-on-marriage-law-instead

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