Fostering Constitutional Equality: Unveiling the Implementation of Legal Aid for Underprivileged Citizens in Karimun Regency

The provision of legal aid is a manifestation of access to law and justice for the underprivileged, provided by the state under the mandate of the Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia. However, in Karimun Regency, there is a significant disparity between the number of underprivileged people and the availability of legal aid organizations. This study aims to investigate two key aspects: firstly, the application of legal aid for the underprivileged from the perspective of constitutional rights of Karimun Regency citizens; and secondly, strategies to optimize the provision of legal aid for the underprivileged in Karimun Regency. The research employs a normative-empirical legal research approach, utilizing legal, conceptual, and case analysis. Primary and secondary data sources are utilized. The findings reveal that the implementation of legal aid for the underprivileged in Karimun Regency has not been optimal due to various problems and factors, including the absence of regional regulations specifically addressing legal aid for the underprivileged, suboptimal performance of legal aid providers, imbalanced ratio of legal aid providers to recipients, and lack of legal knowledge and awareness among the underprivileged. To optimize the application of legal aid in Karimun Regency, several stages are suggested, such as immediate ratification of regional regulations addressing legal aid, enhanced supervision and strict sanctions for legal aid providers, and the verification of additional Legal Aid Organizations (OBH) in Karimun Regency by the Ministry of Law and Human Rights.