Outdated Criminal Law, Mahfud MD Want RKUHP Ratified Soon

JAKARTA - The Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Mahfud MD said that the Draft Criminal Code (RKUHP) urged it to be passed immediately.

He said the rule of law that has existed since the Dutch era, is outdated because it has been more than 100 years. In fact, the law should change according to changes in society.

"Let's make a new resultante. A new agreement. It's just a little more to finish. So that for example this year, our new Criminal Code has been passed", Mahfud said in a written statement quoted on Friday, March 5.

As the party that supports the legalization of the RKUHP, the former Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court (MK) noted that there are several reasons this draft law has not been successful. One of the reasons is the pluralistic condition of Indonesian society.

"I noted some of the causes of this failure. First, it is indeed making a conditional and unique law that is not easy in a society that is so plural. So we have to aggregate to reach an agreement or resultante", he said.

Even if later in the RKUHP there are still things to be corrected, Mahfud said, this could be done through a legislative review or judicial review. Most importantly, he said, this agreement must be taken so that the RKUHP can be ratified immediately without delay.

"About something wrong, later it can be corrected again through a legislative review or judicial review. The important thing is that the current format is good, the matter of some unsuitable material can be corrected as it goes on. So in my opinion we must accelerate this so that we move further to improve it", he concluded.