Coordinating Minister Yusril: In The New Criminal Code, Drug Users Are Rehabilitated Not Sentenced To Prison
JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration, and Correction Yusril Ihza Mahendra said that in the provisions of the new Criminal Code (KUHP), narcotics users should no longer be rehabilitated and sentenced to imprisonment.
"There has been a change in the Narcotics Law, where users are no longer convicted, but must be rehabilitated," Yusril said as quoted by ANTARA, Wednesday, December 11.
He explained that narcotics users are actually categorized as victims so they need to be rehabilitated while still being fostered by the state. According to Yusril, this method is expected to unravel the problem of the large number of inmates in prisons.
"Perhaps the inmates will be drastically reduced, but that doesn't mean they are free because they are not sentenced to enter the prison, but they must be rehabilitated," he explained.
Yusril explained that the new Criminal Code which was implemented in January 2026 prioritized the principle of restorative justice. This means that punishment in Indonesia is no longer oriented solely to the aspect of punishment.
"But it is more about restorative justice, rehabilitation, and so on, which in my opinion is closer to the living law; to the law that lives in our society, namely customary law and Islamic law," he continued.
He said that the preparation of the new Criminal Code requires long discussions that cannot be separated from debate and controversy. However, Yusril believes that the new Criminal Code accommodates the legal philosophy that lives in the midst of Indonesian society.
"The type of punishment or philosophy of our punishment is much different from what we inherited from the Dutch colonial era," he said.
Coordinating Minister Yusril appealed to the ranks at Poltekip, as educational institutions that focus on correctional science, to innovate following changes in the new Criminal Code.
"Perhaps there needs to be a new department at Poltekip, it's about how to rehabilitate victims of this narcotics. So, please think about these things for our progress together in the future," he said.