to the Judicial Commission, permitting the Supreme Court to impose sanctions on
judges and to tap the phone calls of judges if there is suspicion of corruption.
Third, the last institution created by the amendment is the Constitutional Court
(Mahkamah Konsitusi). According to Article 24 C, the Constitutional Court has the
authority to conduct judicial review of legislation, to decide on conflict of interest
within state institutions relating to the constitutional powers of state institutions, to
regulate activities for the dissolution of political parties, and to decide on objections
to the results of general elections. Since the Constitutional Court was established,
legislative institutions are no longer able to formulate laws based on political
strength alone. Despite having been stipulated democratically, the entire law or
part of its substance can be annulled by the court if the procedure or substance is
contradictory to the Constitution. The Constitutional Court has reviewed seventy-
four laws, of which four have been nullified in their entirety and twenty-three have
been nullified in part.
15
One of the main reasons why the 2009 general election by and large was peaceful
was because of the role of the Constitutional Court in dealing with election
disputes. Conflicting interpretations of the election law by the Election Commis-
sion (KPU) and the Supreme Court led to several delays in the release of the official
results of the legislative elections, but the credibility of the Constitutional Court
as the final interpreter of the Constitution and the quality of its decision-making
ensure that all parties comply with the court’s decision.
16
Even foreign observers of
elections, such as the Carter Center in the US, commended Indonesia’s Consti-
tutional Court for efficiently handling disputes relating to the 9 April 2009 legislative
election results. In all, 595 cases relating to disputed election results were
filed during a seventy-two-hour filing period after the announcement of results on
9 May 2009.^17 It could be stated safely that the Constitutional Court has contributed
greatly to the development of democracy and the enforcement of law in Indonesia.
The court does not restrict itself to the text of the Constitution in its decisions,
but also refers to international human rights law. With respect to former members
of the now-defunct Indonesian Communist Party, the court declared that every
citizen shall have an equal right to elect and to be elected and to participate in
vowing his/her aspiration by referring to Article 25 of the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The Universal Declaration of Human
MacIntyre and Ross McLeod (eds.),Indonesia: Democracy and the Promise of Good
Governance(Singapore: ISEAS, 2007 ), p. 178.(^15) Simon Butt, ‘Judicial Review in Indonesia: Between Civil Law and Accountability?
A Study of Constitutional Court Decisions 2003 – 2005 ’, PhD thesis, University of
Melbourne, 2008.
(^16) Chief Justice Moh. Mahfud MD, ‘The Role of the Constitutional Court in the Develop-
ment of Democracy in Indonesia’, paper presented in the World Conference on Consti-
tutional Justice, Cape Town, 23 – 4 January 2009.
(^17) See the press release here:www.cartercenter.org/news/pr/indonesia- 062609 .html.