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View all search resultsYoung Indonesians take fight for justice to Constitutional Court
From challenging the revised TNI Law to defending freedom of expression, young Indonesians are increasingly turning to judicial reviews to hold the government accountable.
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Constitutional Court Chief Justice Suhartoyo (center) presides over a hearing to read rulings on 20 judicial review petitions at the Constitutional Court building in Jakarta on Thursday, July 30, 2026. (Antara/Hafidz Mubarak A)
R
asyid Gumilar and his fellow Padjadjaran University students were heading to Jakarta by bus last year to protest the revision of the Indonesian Military (TNI) Law. Midway through the journey, however, he learned that the House of Representatives had already passed the contentious amendment.
“We’d traveled far from Bandung [in West Java] only to see the law had been passed,” the 25-year-old law graduate told The Jakarta Post this week. “That made me think taking to the streets wasn’t enough. I started wondering what else we could do.”
Rasyid is among a growing number of young Indonesians turning to the Constitutional Court to challenge legislation that they believe threatens their rights, using the judiciary as one of the few remaining avenues where they can pursue change.
Shortly after the TNI Law was passed in March 2025, Rasyid and four of his colleagues took to the Constitutional Court and filed a petition for a judicial review of the law, which they claimed lacked public participation in its drafting.
Their petition was among the first in a wave of legal challenges against the amendment, following protests against the rushed and opaque deliberation of the law and several provisions that expanded military roles in civilian affairs.
Read also: /indonesia/2026/01/08/tni-police-laws-faced-most-legal-challenges-at-constitutional-court-in-2025" target="_blank">TNI, police laws faced most legal challenges at Constitutional Court in 2025
While the court dismissed the petition in September 2025, citing the students’ lack of legal standing, Rasyid believed the action had sparked interest among his juniors to also pursue judicial challenges against laws they considered unconstitutional.
