Learning from the deliberation of the Legislative Institutions bill, on which the Jokowi has not yet taken a stand on whether to sign it into law or not, we ask the President to be cautious regarding the Criminal Code bill’s deliberation.
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Kompas/Alif Ichwan
Constitutional Court judge Suhartoyo (second left), accompanied by I Gede Palguna (left) and Saldi Isra (second right), presides over the first trial session of the judicial review of the Legislative Institutions (MD3) law at the Constitutional Court building in Jakarta on Thursday (8/3). The judicial review was requested by the Indonesian Solidarity Party’s legal and constitutional study forum (FKHK).
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo wants the House of Representatives (DPR) to accelerate its deliberation of the Criminal Code bill (RUU HP).
National Law Development Agency (BPHN) chair Enny Nurbaningsih disclosed the President\'s call to speed up the bill’s deliberation on Wednesday (7/3), after a meeting with Jokowi at Merdeka Palace. The RUU HP has indeed been the focus of every Indonesian president, as the revised code is expected to replace the existing Criminal Code, which was a product of colonial laws.
President Jokowi\'s desire is natural. However, we want to point out that the RUU HP is critical because it deals with the fate of all citizens. The public does not want the RUU HP to be a draconian law that will trap the country’s citizens. As far as media coverage goes, the RUU HP still contains articles that threaten freedom of expression, press freedom and women’s rights, including a tendency to criminalize victims of sexual violence.
Draco (650-600 BC), the first legislator of Athens, replaced unwritten laws with written laws. In his article published on Friday (23/2) in Kompas, Ahsin Thohari said that Draco himself had not drafted the RUU HP. However, the bill contained articles with multiple interpretations that neglected human rights. The bill had a general tendency to protect state interests while depriving citizens of their basic rights.
Kompas/Agnes Theodora
President Joko Widodo
What parts of the RUU HP compose the legal politics of President Jokowi\'s government? Learning from the deliberation of the Legislative Institutions bill (RUU MD3) – on which the Jokowi has not yet taken a stand on whether to sign it into law or not – we ask the President to be cautious regarding the RUU HP’s deliberation.
We encourage President Jokowi to look again at the bill’s substance so that an event similar to the deliberation of the RUU MD3 should not happen again. After the revised law was passed by the DPR, Jokowi said he was shocked by its inclusion of a number of controversial articles. The President now faces the difficult decision on t whether to enact the law or not.
In 2018 and 2019, a number of House politicians openly used several articles in the RUU HP to garner voters’ support. It is in this regard that we question the government’s stance on political law, especially the legal politics of President Jokowi as the head of government. Drafting laws is equivalent to developing legal instruments.
The President holds control over the legal developments, including drafting laws. Even though in reality, the state ministers deliberate the bills, the President’s stance on political law is very important. As in the deliberations of the Terrorism Law, factions exist not only within the House, but also within government. This is what the President must resolve.
Therefore, even though President Jokowi has called that the deliberation of the RUU HP be accelerated, we believe that there is no need to rush to complete the Criminal Code Law, let alone during the political years of 2018-2019. An inadequately prepared legislation will typically be detrimental to society.
