HP 3 Rights, What Strategy for NGOs?
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Movanet
Following my Articles on HP-3 in Jakarta Post ("The need for Clarification on HP-3 Rights" and previously "Coastal Management Law Review?") it is relevant to ask question on which course of (legal) action would our Civil Societies colleagues take, in response to the enactment of Coastal Law.
I can think of three possible actions by Civil Societies:
I can think of three possible actions by Civil Societies:
- Judicial Review. Most activist would blame the Law for its interest in privatizing coastal areas. As such, they would be inclined to invalidate Law 27/2007. But what reasons can be used to submit the JR? Roughly speaking, I would say that any attempt to invalidate Law 27/2007 will have a very minimal chance of success. I do not see any provision under the Law which diametrically contradicts the Constitution. True, that the implementation of the Law may deprive certain members of the societies (such as the Adat Community) from their Constitutional rights, but in general, the black letters of Law 27 guarantees the preservation of existing traditional rights. Thus, if JR is to be opted, the most convincing hole would be to contradict the ill-defined HP-3 rights against "legal certainty" provision of the Constitution. I am not suggesting that this measure would be effective as property rights needs not to to be fully defined (a 'complete' property rights is impossible anyway), but there is a chance of success since "legal certainty" is weighed considerably by the Court. In any case, a move in reviewing Law 27 must not be aimed at winning the case completely (which result in the complete invalidation of the law) but simply in getting partial invalidation of harmful articles or, if not possible at all, in gaining the Court's recommendation for safeguarding its implementing regulations.
- Legislative Review. If one thinks that the Law is insufficient or defective invalidation may not be the option. The Court's function is in ensuring that provisions of Laws are Consistent with the Constitution. So, if there are provisions of laws which is consistent with the Constitution but is nevertheless defective, the Court may choose to reject the petition to invalidate and recommends it for a legislative review. However, when a Law is recommended for a legislative review by the Court, it does not necessarily follows that the parliament will take the Court's suggestion. There are so many Bills that the Parliament needs to enact in any given year and there are political (as well as administrative) costs for rediscussing an already-enacted bill.
- Implementing Regulation and Its Reviews. Law 27 will require plenty of government regulations and regional regulations to be implemented. In terms of technicalities, this measure is the most technically feasible. It is easier to change implementing regulation than annuling a provision of a Law or modifying it through legislative measures. Option #1 involves proceedings at the Constitutional Court and option #2 involves deliberation by parliament members. Option #3 however, only involves the government. It is easier for the government to enact regulations which are friendly to the cause promoted to Civil Societies. But because Option #3 rests on the discretion of the government alone, there is always a chance of capture by business interests. A way of rejecting an enacted government regulation is by conducting an appeal to the Supreme Court. Note however that the appeal for Government Regulation (against a Law) in the Supreme Court would take a very long time, as the Supreme Court has a very high case-load.
From these options, I would suggest Civil Societies to first submit a JR to the Constitutional Court. This must be done with a caveat that it has a minimum chance of success, so the aim of the JR should not be in entirely invalidating the Law but in obtaining partial invalidation and recommendation from the Constitutional Court in safeguarding the Law's implementing regulation.
This move will benefit Civil Societies developing monitoring and stakeholder participation capacity during and after the property rights setting takes place, as institutional set-up for HP-3 (zoning, etc) and its implementation are prone to capture.
This move will benefit Civil Societies developing monitoring and stakeholder participation capacity during and after the property rights setting takes place, as institutional set-up for HP-3 (zoning, etc) and its implementation are prone to capture.