The Role of the Constitutional Court in Legal Reform in Indonesia Through Judicial Review and Constitutional Legal Discovery

This essay examines how the Constitutional Court (MK) uses judicial review and constitutional law discovery (constitutional rechtsvinding) to strategically advance legal reform in Indonesia. The MK has the power to test laws against the constitution and interpret its fundamental principles as an organization that protects it, as stipulated in Article 24C of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia and operationalized by Law Number 24 of 2003 as amended by Law Number 7 of 2020. The phenomenon of increasing requests for judicial review indicates a gap between written law and the need for substantive justice in society. In this context, constitutional judges are required not to simply be mouthpieces of the law, but to investigate and comprehend the concept of social justice as required by Law Number 48 of 2009 about Judicial Power, Article 5 paragraph (1). This study demonstrates that the MK actively participates as a force for legal reform that may bridge the gap between social fairness and legal certainty by using the progressive legal theory approach developed by Satjipto Rahardjo. Decisions from the Constitutional Court, including those made during the judicial review of the Electronic Information and Transactions Law and the Job Creation Law, demonstrate the institution's transformational role in maintaining the relevance of law to current developments. Thus, the integration of judicial review and constitutional legal discovery makes the Constitutional Court a key instrument in shaping a legal system that is adaptive, responsive, and substantively just.