Jakarta – The group Indonesia Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR) has revealed that there are still 73 problematic articles contained in the Draft Criminal Code (RKUHP) even after it was revised by the government and handed back to the House of Representatives (DPR) Commission III in early July.
The number of problematic articles in the draft law has actually increased. Prior to this, only 20 articles were considered to be problematic.
ICJR researcher Maidina Rahmawati revealed that the problematic articles in Book I are spread across four chapters and in Book II over 12 chapters.
The problematic articles found in Book I of the RKUHP are related to the living law, the principles of legality, the principals of universality, the principles of active nationality, the age limit on child complaints, state institution complaints, strict liability, vicarious liability, liability for disability crimes, liability for child crimes, afwezigheid van alle schuld (AVAS, no crime without fault) and corporate liability.
Then there are also articles related to the guidelines for the prosecution of a crime, judicial pardons, guidelines for corporate prosecutions, guidelines for applying principle crimes with alternative formulations, capital punishment, commuting life sentences, fines as alternative sentences, additional crimes, deprivation of rights, probation in capital crimes, the loss of authority to prosecute, time limits on prosecutions, makar (treason, subversion, rebellion) and the closing regulations.
In Book II meanwhile, which regulates criminal acts, has a number of stipulations which according to the ICJR need to be reviewed. They include makar, insulting the president and vice president, insulting the head of a neighbouring country, the flag, state symbols, the national anthem and the title of the paragraph on insulting a population group.
Then there is the problem of insulting the legitimate government, insulting a population group, incitement to commit a crime and resisting a public authority, providing hope of an abortion, holding marches and demonstrations without prior notification, phone tapping and bugging as well as violence against persons or property.
Next there is also the articles related to fake news, contempt of court, obstruction of justice, fabricating evidence, spreading hatred, incitement not to follow a religion or belief and creating a disturbance near a house of worship.
Then on insulting a person who is performing or leading an act of worship, defiling a place of worship, polluting or damaging the environment, insulting a public authority, violating morality in public, pornography, adultery, cohabitation, incest and indecency.
Then there is also the articles related to defamation, defamation against a dead person, insulting the president-vice president-state institution-state official while carrying out their duties, fraudulent acts when handing over other goods and fraudulent acts which result in economic suffering or damage.
Finally, there are problems with articles related to public officials who force a person to do or not to do something, forced confessions, torture, raids or searches which exceed their authority, arrest and detention which exceeds its authority, corruption crimes, the term state official, the transitional stipulations, the closing stipulations and the stipulations related to revoking and bringing the law into effect. (mts/bmw)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Temuan Baru ICJR: Ada 73 Pasal Bermasalah di Draf RKUHP".]
