Constitutional crisis: intensifying disobedience to the decisions of the Indonesian Constitutional Court

Abstract

A constitutional crisis is a scenario in which the norms stated in the constitu-tion are present in the text but absent in context (constitution with semantic value), indica-ting an amputation of the impartiality of the Constitutional Court and disobedience to itsdecisions. Functionally, the Constitutional Court has the highest authority in maintainingthe dignity of the constitution and guarding its values, to which all elements of the nationare accountable. In Indonesia, the constitutional crisis can be understood from three impor-tant events. First, the House of Representatives signed a waiver for Article 22 of the 1945Constitution, approving a Government Regulation in Lieu of the Job Creation Law stipu-lated by the President. Second, the Court’s impartiality principle was violated via dismissalof the Constitutional Judge, Aswanto. Third, the legislative and executive as well as the judi-ciary, in this case, the Supreme Court, disobeyed the Constitutional Court’s decisions. Thesethree events intensify the constitutional crisis.