By: Aprilian Hutapea )*
The Draft Criminal Code (RKUHP) is ready to be ratified by the end of this year. This bill must be promulgated immediately, because it will change the face of criminal law in Indonesia for the better.
The RKUHP is a bill that is being discussed a lot, because it contains new articles whose purpose is to regulate people’s lives in a more orderly manner. These include articles on living law, aka customary law, articles on adultery, articles on prohibiting disturbing neighbors, and others.
If the RKUHP is passed, the criminal law in Indonesia will be much better. The reason is because in the RKUHP there are articles that improve criminal law in Indonesia. For example, the adultery article, which will punish the perpetrator with 1 year in prison.
The RKUHP must be ratified quickly because the adultery article will apply, and crush all immoral acts, including living together. People will live in an orderly and legally married life (state law). Not arbitrarily to live together alias gather together.
People are waiting for the RKUHP to be passed into a new version of the Criminal Code, because they want a better change in the application of criminal law in Indonesia. The Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, Mahfud MD, stated that the RKUHP would soon be ratified. The plan is at the end of 2022.
Mahfud MD added that the RKUHP had been drafted 59 years ago and is almost final. So it is natural that this bill will soon be passed into the new Criminal Code. In a sense, the RKUHP has actually been drafted since the New Order era. However, in the preparation it took a very long time, until in the era of the new President Jokowi’s government it was realized.
So it would be a big mistake if someone opposes the inauguration of the RKUHP, even considers the bill to be inconsequential, or accuses the government of silencing the people with a cruel law. The drafting of the RKUHP has been around for a long time and was made with care. Over the decades, articles have been drafted in order to protect the people from criminal crimes.
People should not only look at the RKUHP in terms of articles that are considered controversial, because the context must be seen. For example in the article prohibiting disturbing neighbors. This is actually good because one is not allowed to make noise (noisy) to disturb the neighbors, and it is done until midnight. This article is very good for regulating social activities in the community.
Another article that was considered controversial was the article on insulting the President and Vice President. Everyone certainly does not want to be insulted, especially a president who is a symbol of the state. Everyone should be aware of being polite, especially on social media, and not insulting the head of state at will.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Law and Human Rights Yasonna Laoly stated that the current Criminal Code is a law inherited from the Netherlands (when it colonized Indonesia) and its name is Wetboek van Strachfrect voor Nederlandsch Indie.
In a sense, Indonesia has been independent since 77 years ago and should have its own criminal code, not the one inherited during the colonial period. Indonesia must be independent constitutionally and have a new version of the Criminal Code that was made by itself. Therefore the RKUHP must be quickly ratified.
In a period of more than 77 years, life has changed drastically. Therefore, the RKUHP must be ratified immediately, because this Law follows the dynamics of Indonesian society today.
If the RKUHP has been ratified, people’s lives will be more orderly. No one will dare to show affection in public and commit immorality, let alone LGBT people. The reason is because they are afraid of being entangled in the adultery article in the RKUHP.
Yasonna continued, the Criminal Code is not relevant to the current criminal law, where it does not follow developments in society and there are 3 criminal problems in criminal law. The first is the formulation of prohibited acts, the formulation of criminal acts, and the formulation of both criminal and action sanctions.
The modern criminal system should have human values. For example, the death penalty can be replaced with a life sentence. If there are poor people who are forced to steal because of hunger, then the punishment will be lightened. But the public should not misunderstand because the suspect will still be tried and get the punishment he deserves. Not just released.
The public should focus on the importance of having their own Criminal Code, which was drafted by Indonesian legal experts. Instead of looking for loopholes and mistakes in the RKUHP, and exaggerating the articles in it that are considered controversial. The RKUHP is not a draft order that plunges, it will protect the people from various kinds of criminal crimes.
The RKUHP will be ratified at the end of the year and become a proud bill, because it was made by legal experts in Indonesia. The community supports the ratification of the RKUHP because the new version of the Criminal Code will regulate their lives well, and bring peace to Indonesia. Criminal crimes will be suppressed by
