Attorney General: New Prosecutor Law Promotes Restorative Justice

Attorney General ST Burhanuddin/ PHOTO VIA ANTARA

JAKARTA - Attorney General Sanitiar Burhanuddin said the ratification of the Draft Law (RUU) on Amendments to Law No. 16 of 2004 concerning the Indonesian Attorney General's Office gave the prosecutor's office a big role in promoting restorative justice.

"Through the new Prosecutor's Law, the prosecutor's office is given the role to use and promote restorative justice," said Burhanuddin in a written statement, Tuesday, December 7.

With the ratification of the law, Indonesia's criminal law policy has seen a paradigm shift from retributive justice or retaliation to restorative justice.

Burhanuddin said that the role of the prosecutor was to prioritize restorative justice as a manifestation of the prosecution's discretion and leniency policy.

The principle of legal justice will always be the main thing in every law enforcement effort that is carried out by weighing between legal certainty and legal benefits, as well as balancing the implied and explicit based on conscience.

With this authority, said Burhanuddin, he did not want the prosecutors to carry out arbitrary prosecutions, without seeing the sense of justice in society.

"Remember, the sense of justice is not in the textbook, but in the conscience," said Burhanuddin.

The new Prosecutor Law was ratified in the Plenary Session of the DPR for the Second Session of the 2021-2022 Session Year.

The Plenary Session of the DPR approved the Draft Law (RUU) concerning the Amendment of Law Number 16 of 2004 concerning the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Indonesia into a law.

After this ratification, Burhanuddin instructed his staff to implement the authority contained in the new law, as well as to conduct socialization.

There are 14 new powers listed in the new Prosecutor's Law that must be socialized and explained to the public on the new rules contained in the regulation.