Injunctions in the Indonesian Constitutional Court

This article examines how the Indonesian Constitutional Court responds to requests for provisional decisions (putusan provisi) – interim orders sought to prevent constitutional harm while a challenge to a statute is heard. Applicants frequently ask the Court to expedite a hearing, to suspend an impugned provision, or to order an official to refrain from acting pending the final decision. Drawing on the Court’s published decisions, I show that it has almost always refused, and that the grounds it gives for refusing are applied neither consistently nor transparently. On the rare occasions the Court has granted interim relief, it has not adequately explained why those cases warranted a departure from its usual practice. I argue that the Court should articulate a structured test, of the kind developed by other constitutional courts and international tribunals, and apply it openly. A clearer practice would make the Court’s orders harder to dismiss as politics and easier to defend as law.