By: Saiful Anwar )*
All students in Indonesia need to be involved in the preparation and ratification of the Draft Criminal Code (RKUHP). The ratification is important to replace the old Criminal Code which is a product of colonial law and is very irrelevant to modern times.
Currently, Indonesia itself has been officially independent for more than 70 years, which is exactly 77 years of independence. However, it turns out that this independence is still not fully owned by the country. This is because the legal system used and implemented by this nation still uses the Criminal Code which is a legacy (product) of the Dutch colonial era.
Suddenly, with the legal system inherited from the Netherlands, of course, there are a lot of ideas, principles and original philosophies from Indonesia that cannot be accommodated there. In fact, so far Indonesia has continued to use the Dutch mindset when implementing the legal process.
This then actually became one of the reasons why the RKUHP was really needed by all Indonesian people. Not only will it replace the old legal system, but with that, this nation will not continue to be under the colonial shadow.
The renewal of the old Criminal Code is very important because with the RKUHP, it will be able to fill a lot of voids from the Dutch colonial legal products. So of course it will be able to further perfect state law and also for the sake of guaranteeing legal protection for the whole community.
The Head of the West Sumatra Ministry of Law and Human Rights Regional Office, R. Andika Dwi Prasetya, explained that the old KUHP products made by the colonialists have existed since the 17th century, so they are very irrelevant when drawn in the context of developments such as modern law.
According to him, Indonesia can no longer continue to adhere to the rigid application of the Legality Principle in Article 1 Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code. This is because they have a tendency to punish without at all proposing alternative sanctions other than punishment.
Then, in the RKUHP many things will be changed, mainly regarding the paradigm of punishment that will be replaced with retributive justice with its main orientation on corrective, restorative and rehabilitation justice which is very in line with the dynamics of modern society.
Regarding the design, discussion and also the process of ratifying the RKUHP itself, the government has also been trying to involve the entire community at large to be able to convey their various criticisms and inputs. Everything will certainly be accommodated by the government, because this RKUHP will replace the legal system, which means that it will regulate all aspects of the life of the nation and state in society.
All input from the community is also important for the success of the establishment of this RKUHP, because according to the Deputy Minister of Law and Human Rights of the Republic of Indonesia, Prof. Eddy O.S Hiariej, that it is indeed a challenge to make a legal product for a country that is very multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural. like Indonesia.
Therefore, Andika invites the whole community, especially the student element to be able to exchange ideas and also explore each other’s opinions, because later in the process of discussion and good communication, an understanding will be found in addressing the RKUHP even from various new perspectives.
So far, there have been a lot of discussion rooms that have been provided and also opened by the government, especially the Ministry of Law and Human Rights. The discussion always includes a number of community elements in it, whose main purpose is indeed to absorb the aspirations of the community so that the ratification of the RKUHP is maximized and does not cause controversy.
Meanwhile, the Central Coordinator of the Nusantara Student Executive Board (BEM), Ahmad Supardi explained that in fact there were absolutely no problematic articles in the RKUHP, and in fact all the articles that had been discussed were really needed as general norms in order to build democratization in Indonesia. .
He explained that all articles must have their own context and purpose. Moreover, it is absolutely impossible for an article to be purposely aimed at negating opinions and criticisms from the public towards the government. So that the RKUHP is already in the process of a fairly long and mature discussion and is in an ideal form to be used as a national legal product and needs to be immediately supported to be ratified in order to immediately replace the position of the old Dutch Criminal Code legal system. If all students are able to discuss the articles in the RKUHP in a much more philosophical and substantial way, then in fact there will be no problems.
The same thing was also expressed by Professor of the Faculty of Law, Diponegoro University, Prof
