By: Dede Sulaiman) *
Discussion of the Criminal Code Bill invites a variety of responses from the public. President Jokowi heard these aspirations and acted firmly to the DPR to immediately postpone the ratification of the Criminal Code Bill. President Jokowi reacted quickly and ordered Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yasonna Laoly to submit this decision to the DPR, so that later the ratification of the Criminal Code Bill could be postponed and the ratification was not carried out by the DPR this period.
The postponement of the ratification of the Criminal Code Bill received appreciation from the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) because the former Mayor of Surakarta had listened to the aspirations of various groups. The steps taken by Jokowi are a sign that the government is not walking alone because they keep listening to the aspirations of the people. PSI Spokesperson Dini Purwono said, Aspirations of the rejection of a number of controversial articles in the Criminal Code Bill, one of which came from PSI.
Since the beginning PSI has also refused and provided critical notes related to the Criminal Code Bill to the President. This Criminal Code Bill is worse than the existing Criminal Code. Because none of the articles from the old Criminal Code were deleted. It only adds new articles that are blunder and instead revives old articles that are colonial in nature and have been revoked by the Constitutional Court (MK). The rejection of the passage of the Criminal Code Bill is certainly not without reason, Dini believes the Criminal Code Bill seems to be adopting recklessly with regard to living law or the law that lives in the community by including articles related to customary law.
For example in Article 2 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code Code written that the law that lives in the community will be regulated in a local regulation. This will have an impact on the emergence of discriminatory and intolerant regulations throughout Indonesia. However it is not wise if we only consider dozens of articles from 628 articles in the Criminal Code Bill, say there are dozens of controversial articles, then whether the Criminal Code Bill that has been reviewed, discussed, and worked on since 1982 must be canceled or postponed again.
What if the Criminal Code Bill is still passed, while dozens of controversial articles are revoked and discussed again and then made into a Perpu for example, or discussed again and then included in the next revision? Because after all the revision of the Criminal Code there is a need, because the law must follow the times. So is it true that we have understood in detail the controversial articles of the Criminal Code Bill? For example, related to the spread of the teachings of Communism / Marxism-Leninism. Where there is an article which states that the spread of Communism / Marxism-Leninism teachings can be sentenced to a maximum of 4 years, it is stated in the Criminal Code Article 188 paragraph 1, but cannot be a Criminal if the person conducts a study for scientific purposes.
DPR Speaker Bambang Soesatyo said that they agreed to postpone the Draft Criminal Law (KUHP) and Penitentiary. The results are obtained after holding lobbies. He also emphasized that 2 bills were postponed in accordance with Jokowi’s request related to land and mining, both of which are still under discussion at level I and have not yet entered the decision making stage.
Professor of the Faculty of Law, Jenderal Soedirman University (UNSOED), assesses that the president’s direct action on student demands is now firm. At present, the DPR is only a protracted person. All that remains for all elements of the nation involved in overseeing discussions in the coming period of the DPR. Demonstrations with a rash attitude that impressed with the origin of gas certainly are also less unsightly, in responding to something, of course we should not bearded. We need to know that if the Criminal Code Bill is passed, the rules do not automatically apply, but only take effect 2 years after the bill was passed.
This means that there is still time to improve it, for example by a judicial review or constitutional review, it can even be revised before it effectively applies. However, Jokowi still opened his ears and heard the aspirations of his people, so the revision of the Criminal Code must be postponed so that it can be reviewed again. The postponement of the discussion of the Criminal Code Bill certainly becomes a point in itself where the government is not anti-criticism, besides that the Parliament can also get inputs with better substance according to the wishes of the people.
) * The author is a social political observer
