Legal Expert: RKUHP Is An Effort to Free the Indonesian Nation
JAKARTA – Criminal Law expert from the University of Muhammadiyah Jakarta (UMJ), DR Chairul Huda said, the Draft Criminal Code (RKUHP) aims to liberate the Indonesian nation. The reason is that the current Criminal Code in Indonesia is a legacy from the Netherlands.
“We will soon celebrate independence. But are we really free? while our most basic laws, such as criminal law, still use Dutch law,” said Chairul in the Trijaya Hot Topic Evening with the theme ‘Problematics of the RKUHP’, Thursday (11/8/2022).
He added that the RKUHP is an effort by the nation’s children to produce a criminal law with an Indonesian personality that is unique to Indonesia. For that, he said, there is no need to look for equivalents with other Criminal Codes, including the Dutch Criminal Code. Because, it could be that a number of things were not found, because it could be unique to Indonesia.
“So basically these are thoughts on how we really have a KUHP which has a very strong Indonesian taste. It’s not just following what the Europeans are doing about it,” he said.
According to Chairul, those who reject the RKUHP are because they have different parameters. If there are legal scholars who oppose the RKUHP, because they view criminal law as a law that only posits and formulates what is already established in people’s lives. So in the context of their thinking, the law follows the development of society. Therefore then it appears added a living long.
“When you get together, say so. It’s all reacting, because of what? Because what he thinks about law is what is already established in society. For us, the drafting team of the Criminal Code, it is true that the law is the crystallization of what is already established in society. But the law must also stand at the forefront, the law must give direction to the development of the community,” he said.
This view, said Chairul, caused a different perspective from those who rejected several articles. The reason is because they see that this is something that then disturbs what is already established in society. Whereas in the minds of the drafting team of the Criminal Code, the law must form a society, namely a society that is aspired to as a creation of law. For this reason, there are articles of provisions that come forward to direct the community not just to follow the community.
“That’s why the law up front can make corridors which are allowed and which are not. It’s not just following,” said Chairul.
He emphasized that the RKUHP was prepared for at least the next 100 years. Law cannot only formalize what is already established in society. The current Criminal Code is up-to-date.
Chairul reminded that reading the legal provisions in the Criminal Code cannot be carried out in one or two articles. This provision is a unified system, namely one article determines another article. So reading only one point from one article, the reader will have difficulty understanding it because it is related to other provisions.
“Many misunderstandings are just reading the text from the article he is questioning. Then you don’t have to study at the law faculty, just study Indonesian because the law is made in Indonesian, read the article and understand the law. The law cannot be like that, the law is understood in the context of its principles, in the context of the system which is then placed on the article and so on,” said Chairul.
