Author(s): Fitriani Ahlan Sjarif, Aditya Wahyu Saputro, Efraim Jordi Kastanya
Legislation during the state of emergency in Indonesia is mainly handled by the President. While the legislature does still hold power to oversee the implementation of a state of emergency, its law-making power wanes along with the rise of the President's role during a state of emergency. All of those are due to the distinct governmental system of Indonesia. This article dicusses how the Indonesian Constitution of 1945 regulates state of emergency, what the role of the President (i.e. executive) and the House of Representatives (i.e. legislature) in state of emergency, and how the two branches of government will play its role during a state of emergency. This article finds that the Indonesian Constitution of 1945 was not clear in regulating war or state of emergency when the country is in danger. Generally, any bill to become law shall have President’s approval besides from the legislature. However, when the state of emergency, the President is dominant in legislating the emergency. The dominance was reaffirmed by no-need- approval legislation of Peraturan Pemerintah Pengganti Undang-Undang known as PERPPU (The Government Regulation in Lieu of Law) which its issuance is to the President. Lastly, the oversight power should be more effective and implemented through the approval process for war and the ratification for PERPPU.