By: Alula Khairunisa)*
The ratification of the Draft Criminal Code (RKUHP) launched by the government needs public support. This is because the main goal is to be able to erase all the inherited rules from the Dutch colonial era, which indeed have encountered a lot of inconsistencies if they continue to be enforced in modern times like today.
The government already has a plan to immediately replace the old KUHP which is the source of the legal system and is binding in the midst of social life in Indonesia, to the RKUHP. Unissula law professor, Prof. Dr. Sri Endah W, stated that the Criminal Code Bill was made to later replace the Dutch Criminal Code/Wet Boek van Strafrech (WvS) since 1918.
Prof. Dr. Sri Endah in the forum for the statement of the attitudes of lecturers in the Faculty of Law (FH), Unissula added that the current Criminal Code in Indonesia was ratified through Staatsblad since 1915 number 732. Therefore, he emphasized that the campus was very supportive so that the KUHP Bill can be quickly ratified by the government.
With how the development of the era is happening so rapidly as it is today in Indonesia, of course, while still using the old Criminal Code as the main reference for the legal system in Indonesia, there have been many incompatibility so that it must be replaced immediately so that later the relevance of the main legal system applied. in Indonesia can be in accordance with the changing times that occur.
How could I not, because the Professor of Law at Unissula emphasized that the Criminal Code/Wvs as a criminal law in Indonesia is full of philosophies of individualism, liberalism, secularism, and injustice. Of course, all of these points are not at all suitable if applied in Indonesia with the ideological basis of Pancasila as the basis of the state. In addition, the character of Indonesian society itself has not always been an individualistic and secular society.
Therefore, there is no longer any reason to argue that the reconstruction of the legal system in the country must be carried out immediately. The goal is for the Criminal Code to be in accordance with the values of the Pancasila philosophy which is the basis of the state and an important foundation for legal development in Indonesia.
With the change from the old Criminal Code in the RKUHP, which is indeed the original design of the nation’s own children, then of course all the values of life embedded in the teachings of Pancasila will be maximally applied and enforced in the life of the nation and state.
In line with Prof Sri Endah, Dean Dr Bambang Tri Bawono reiterated that the Unissula Law Faculty strongly encouraged and agreed that the KUHP Bill consisting of 628 articles could be ratified immediately. According to him, the new legal regulations should be ratified immediately because legal experts have made Pancasila as the basis since 1964.
It is evident that in fact legal experts in Indonesia themselves have long begun to realize that there are indeed things that are not good if they continue to use the old Criminal Code as the main reference for the legal system in the country. Through various kinds of old and comprehensive studies, of course, it will create an RKUHP which is ideal to replace the existence of the old KUHP which was a legacy of the Dutch colonial era.
On a different occasion, Deputy Minister of Law and Human Rights (Wamenkumham), Edward Omar Sharif Hiariej said that the Criminal Code Bill was one of the government’s efforts to formulate a national criminal law recode system which aims to replace the old Criminal Code as a legal product of the Dutch East Indies colonial era.
Furthermore, the Deputy Minister of Law and Human Rights added that there were at least five important points that became the main mission in the RKUHP. The first point is about decolonization efforts. As is well known, the old Criminal Code is a legal system created by the Dutch colonials when they colonized Indonesia. Therefore, it is very important to make efforts to eliminate colonial nuances in the substance of the old Criminal Code, namely to realize Corrective-Rehabilitative-Restorative Justice, Goals and Guidelines for Sentencing (Standard of Sentencing), and include alternative criminal sanctions, such as supervision and social work crimes. not more than 5 (five) years.
The second point that is the mission of the RKUHP is about democratization, because in the entire process of drafting this RKUHP, it always prioritizes discussion and involvement of many people. Then the third point is regarding consolidation, namely the rearrangement of criminal provisions from the old Criminal Code and part of the Criminal Law outside the Criminal Code as a whole with Recodification (open-limited). The goal is to regroup the scattered rules to be understood