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MK rejects petition against investment of haj funds
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In this file photo, a haj officer checks the passport of a pilgrim at the Medan haj dormitory in North Sumatra on Sept. 7, 2017. (JP/Apriadi Gunawan)
T
he Constitutional Court (MK) rejected on Tuesday a judicial review request challenging the government's power to invest haj funds.
Filed by lawyer Muhammad Sholeh in August, the petition contended a 2014 law that regulates haj fund management over fears of misuse.
"We reject the plaintiff's request," chief justice Arief Hidayat said, reading out the ruling.
Sholeh set out three main arguments in his petition, including that the government did not ask his permission to invest his haj down payment and that the government could inflate the down payment, so that it would have a larger pool of funds to invest.
According to Sholeh, he would bear the loss if the government's investments performed poorly.
The court rejected all three arguments, saying the petition had "no legal basis."
"One of the government's duties is to facilitate its Muslim citizens who want to go on the haj," said justice Anwar Usman. "In conducting that duty, the government needs to create legislation, so that it can provide the best service possible."
As long as the legislation was passed by duly elected lawmakers, he continued, it is considered part of a contract between the people and the government. This means that the government was not required to ask permission from haj participants to invest their down payments.
The court said that there was no evidence that losses would be passed down to the haj participants, while gains from the investments would be used to further improve government haj services. (kmt/ipa)
