THE INDONESIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT DECISIONS, DECENTRAL-IZATION, AND LOCAL AUTONOMY: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW CON-CERNING ARTICLE 18 OF THE 1945 CONSTITUTION

Abstract

The enactment of the 1999 Decentralization Law in Indonesia established that legislation advances faster than constitutional provisions on local decentralization. Following the 1999 Decentralization Law, the second amendment to the 1945 Constitution was enacted in 2000, providing provisions for local government in the Constitution. Due to the fact that the provisions related to local autonomy rights must be understood and be legally binding without contradicting the Constitution, constitutional interpretation is unavoidably required. Thus, the Constitutional Court presents itself as an institution charged with the responsibility of interpreting laws. However, prior research, to our knowledge, has concentrated on the reform process, its effectiveness, and its limitations. Therefore, this paper aims to shed light on the current state of constitutional court decisions on local autonomy and its primary themes through describing the Constitutional Court interpretation of Article 18 of the 1945 Constitution. This systematic study adopted a normative (dogmatic) research, seeking the science of law by observing written regulations as the main object of analysis. We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, which include four phases: identification, screening, eligibility, and inclusion for data collection. The collected data were then read through repeatedly, including data checking, data marking and patterning, data reconstruction, and finally data systematization. They were analyzed descriptively using legal interpretation and construction techniques. The findings indicate that among its numerous decisions, 71 are related to local autonomy under three categories: formation of local government, definition of local democracy, and recognition of adat (customary) rights. The findings of the study imply that the 1945 Constitution can succeed in Indonesia's pluralistic society without creating conflicts. This means that Indonesians who live in diverse communities should be protected, rather than neglected, by both customary law and constitutionalist principles.