By: Agus Syarifudin )*
Socialization of the National Criminal Code continues to be carried out by prioritizing literacy that the legal system accommodates and respects the unique cultural values of the Indonesian nation. The National Criminal Code is also able to protect the existence of private space owned by all people in the country with the application of the Cohabitation Article which has the type of complaint offense.
The House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia (DPR RI) has officially ratified the Draft Criminal Code (RKUHP) to become the Criminal Code Law (UU) on December 6, 2022. The plan is that the existence of this Criminal Code Law will be able to replace the enforcement of the old Criminal Code left over from the Dutch colonial era which had even been in use since more than 100 (one hundred) years ago.
Then, on January 2, 2023, the President of the Republic of Indonesia (RI), Joko Widodo has also officially ratified the Criminal Code Law by signing Law Number 1 of 2023 concerning the Criminal Code (KUHP) and at the same time promulgated by Minister of State Secretary (Mensesneg), Pratikno. For information, the National Criminal Code is the first legal product to be inaugurated by the Government of Indonesia in 2023.
The new Criminal Code Law itself consists of 37 chapters, containing as many as 624 articles and is also written in 354 pages which are entirely divided into two parts, namely the article and explanatory sections as well as in the National Criminal Code which also codifies a number of other laws.
In the elucidation section of the National Criminal Code, it is written that the drafting of the Law was indeed intended to replace the existence and application of Wetboek vam Strafrecht, or commonly known as the old Criminal Code, which had been stipulated by Law Number 1 of 1946 concerning Criminal Law Regulations.
One of the most basic reasons for the very importance of a renewal of a legal system designed by the nation’s children, in relation to being able to replace the existence of a legal system designed by the colonial party, is about how the values are reflected in the legal system.
It is absolutely undeniable that the values reflected in the old Criminal Code were not in accordance with the values that existed in this nation’s distinctive culture, besides that not a few of them were very irrelevant if they had to be applied today.
Then, what is included in one of the values in this nation’s distinctive culture is related to a set of norms and morals regarding how it is considered taboo when a couple of lovers live in the same room, but without any official marital status, or commonly known as get together or cohabitation.
For this reason, because the National Criminal Code embodies these culturally distinctive values, it is not surprising that the Cohabitation Article is also included in the legal system created by the nation’s children. Even so, in fact it does not necessarily make the state directly act as it pleases with the private space owned by its citizens, so that the Cohabitation Article is at the same time able to protect that private space.
Related to this, Professor of the Faculty of Law (FH) UI, Prof. Topo Santoso emphasized that one of the differences between the new or national Criminal Code and the old Criminal Code or Wetboek van Strafrecht (WvS) is that discussions and academic texts have appeared in chapters or books on criminal acts, criminal responsibility, and criminal and sentencing.
Precisely because it is a type of complaint offense, it requires only certain people to report it first. So that it is impossible to have a legal process without prior complaints from parties who are entitled or directly harmed.
Furthermore, University of Indonesia (UI) Faculty of Law (FH) Academics, Prof. Harkristuti Harkrisnowo explained that precisely with the existence of the Cohabitation Article in the National Criminal Code, it made it a legal product that highly respects the existence of the unique cultural values of the Indonesian nation.
Then according to him, related to efforts in the Cohabitation Article in the National Criminal Code to protect people’s private space, there are indeed limits so that not everyone can make a complaint. Because indeed the main purpose of the Cohabitation Article includes being able to respect the institution of marriage which has been embodied in Law Number 1 of 1974 while still protecting the private space of society.
If there are still pros and cons, when there are some people who still object to the existence of the National Criminal Code, Krisnadwipayana University Professor Prof. Indriyanto Seno Adji explained that criminal acts are generally very dynamic in nature following global, regional and national developments and dynamics. Therefore the need for legal reform, especially criminal law in Indonesia through this national Criminal Code.
Socialization of the National Criminal Code in Semarang is one of the efforts to disseminate the values contained in the National Criminal Code article. This also shows that the Government is committed to continuing to maintain the spirit of democracy.
)* The author is an alumnus of Semarang State University