By: Aulia Hawa )*
The National Criminal Code will clearly be able to better enforce law in Indonesia which is based on justice and humanity because it allows for many other alternative sanctions and not just imprisonment which deprives a person of his right to freedom.
The House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia (DPR RI) has officially ratified the National Criminal Code (KUHP) which is aimed at replacing the legal system of the products of the Dutch colonial era which had been in effect for a very long time in the country.
In the birth of the National Criminal Code, of course when compared directly with the old Criminal Code, the legal system created by the nation’s children has many advantages. Regarding some of the advantages possessed by the National Criminal Code, Lecturer at the Faculty of Law (FH) of Trisakti University who is also Chairperson of the Indonesian Criminal Law and Criminology Society (Mahupiki), Yenti Ganarsih stated that the objectives of sentencing and also the guidelines for sentencing are very different.
How could it not be, the article has been regulated in much more detail and also contains objectives so that sentencing guidelines are much clearer than the old Criminal Code. Of course, it is very possible that the National Criminal Code in law enforcement will be much more just.
Not only that, Yenti Ganarsih also believes that with the existence of the National Criminal Code, it will be able to reduce various criminal problems much better, which when there is a criminal problem which is actually very much different but with the same or almost the same case, it is usually immediately considered it is a case of the same.
Meanwhile, in the enactment of the National Criminal Code, before a person can be prosecuted and sentenced, there will be many other things for consideration by the judge so that automatically several complicated matters regarding the previous legal system in Indonesia can be resolved properly.
Yenti also added that the National Criminal Code was drafted by the Government of Indonesia in a very balanced way, namely being able to cover the interests of multiple parties at once, starting from the interests at the personal, community to state level.
He gave an example related to the existence of an article on adultery which has been regulated in the National Criminal Code and recently has become a polemic in society. According to him, the article on adultery that has been included in the new legal system means that there will be no more raids or raids that end up taking the law into their own hands as is the case in Indonesia.
In the provisions in the adultery article of the National Criminal Code, several parties who are given the authority to be able to make reports if it is suspected that there is a practice of adultery are husbands or wives who are still in legal marital status, then the children and also the parents of the perpetrators concerned.
Meanwhile, Professor of Semarang State University Prof. Dr. R. Benny Riyanto, SH, M.Hum, revealed that the Criminal Code currently in effect in Indonesia is a legacy of the Dutch colonialism. Therefore, the ratification of the national Criminal Code is considered the right step.
According to him, there are several urgency related to the need to establish the National Criminal Code, among others, there has been a paradigm shift from Retributive Justice to Corrective, Restorative and Rehabilitative Justice paradigm. Apart from that, the written law is also always left behind from the facts of the incident, the WvS Criminal Code is more than 100 years old so that the development of society and its legal needs must have shifted.
Efforts to reform the Criminal Code actually started in 1958 which was marked by the establishment of the National Legal Development Institute (LPHN). In 1963 the First National Law Seminar was held which resulted in various resolutions including formulating the National Criminal Code. In 1964, drafts of Book I began to be drafted, so far there have been 25 drafts.
On September 18 2019, the draft Criminal Code Bill was actually ready for discussion and approval. However, because President Jokowi realized that there was a need for a delay in plenary determination because several issues needed to be resolved, namely related to 14 crucial issues. The government is also continuing the discussion to carry out two steps to receive input from stakeholders and civil society including legal practitioners.
Professor of Criminal Law at the University of Indonesia (UI), Prof. Harkristuti Harkrisnowo who is also a member of the drafting team for the new Criminal Code, said that there was a wrong perception from the public with the recognition of the basic law that there was a deviation from the principle of legality. This is completely untrue because living laws are provisions that have been discovered scientifically.
Currently there is a misperception from the public with the basic legal recognition that there is a deviation from the principle of legality. This is not true because living laws are provisions that have been discovered scientifically.
Meanwhile, regarding the assault on the dignity of the president, that respect for others is a reflection of social values and sublimates respect for others. There are two articles that have been combined, several articles have been dropped in the Criminal Code. The criminal sanction is not more than 5 years, not all of them are also imprisoned.
The existence of a national Criminal Code is considered as an appropriate step. The National Criminal Code has also accommodated many aspirations to various perspectives from people in Indonesia, so that in the future law enforcement in Indonesia will be far more just and humane.
)* The author is a contributor to Pertiwi Institute
