Three years after the endorsement of Government Administrative Law (UU AP), there have been pros and cons that arise on the Law. As such, government and parliament are urged to review the Law.
A national seminar Administrative Law Update 2017 event with the theme Government Administrative Law: Appreciation, Implication and Opportunities was held on Monday (23/10) in Hyatt Hotel, Yogyakarta. It was initiated by State Administrative Law Department of Faculty of Law UGM, Law and Human Rights Ministry, and Association of Law Lecturers (AP HTN-HAN) Yogyakarta. The seminar presented speakers such as former Chair of Constitutional Court also professor from Universitas Islam Indonesia, Prof. Dr. Mahfud MD, Professor Emeritus from Airlangga University, Prof. Dr. Philipus Hadjon, Chairman of Centre for Corruption Studies of Faculty of Law UGM, Dr. Zainal Arifin Mochtar, and Head of National Law Education, Dr. Enny Nurbaningsih.
In the seminar Mahfud MD said he saw the Government Administrative Law had provided better paradigm to state administration. The indications of this are the strengthened judicial role of State Administrative Court and the more distinct right to object and request an appeal on a verdict that is seen as unfavourable.
On the contrary, Philipus Hadjon criticised the Law on its stance on State Administrative Court. He opined that one of the authorities of the Court is to try in court written adjustments that also include factual acts. He saw the Court authorities that may review the decisions made at the executive, legislative, and judicial levels and others are confusing. “Conceptually, the State Administrative Court is designed as such to monitor the executive only while other institutions have their own monitoring body,” he said.
Furthermore, Dr. Zainal Arifin Mochtar said the norm formulation of Article 19 of the Law can extend the administrative process of corruption case trial. But this would burden the State Administrative Court instead due to new authorities being attached to it. He suspected the complicancy was because the law drafting had been done by state administrative science experts but not administrative law experts.
Meanwhile, Dr. Enny Nurbaningsih explained Indonesia had experienced regulation “obesity”. She said problematic regulations are being reviewed and streamlined.“This is in line with the vision of President Joko Widodo for easy investment climate,” she said. She added the Law needs to be retouched before it can be used further to review the many regulations.
Event chairman of Administrative Law Update 2017, Richo Andi Wibowo, Ph.D., said over 100 participants joined the seminar, coming from across the country. Afterwards, the seminar will be followed up with a workshop on revisions recommendation for the Law.