Regarding The Article On Insulting The President In The RKUHP, Arteria Dahlan: Who Says Our Country Is Not Democratic?

Member of Commission III of the House of Representatives Arteria Dahlan in a discussion discussing the RKUHP/PHOTO: Wardhany Tsa Tsia-VOI

JAKARTA - Member of the House of Representatives Commission III from the PDIP faction, Arteria Dahlan, asked again about the accusation of insulting the president and his deputy in the Draft Criminal Code (RKUHP), which is considered undemocratic.

This discussion was presented to respond to the polemic from the public. Moreover, in this bill it is stated that insulting the president and his deputy in public can be sentenced to 3.5 years in prison.

"Regarding the attack on the president's dignity in Article 218, our country is undemocratic. Who says," said Arteria in a discussion held at the DPR building, Senayan, Jakarta, Tuesday, June 7.

Arteria said that the application of this article was actually correct. "This is a complaint offense. Even if you insult the head of a friendly state using this law, you will be punished when your head of state is not punished," he said.

He ensured that this article would not silence criticism from the public against the government, including the president. He said, the head of state may still be criticized and will not be subject to certain articles.

In addition, Arteria said that the application of this article would also be carried out in a dignified and civilized manner. Moreover, in the RKUHP, this article is in the form of a complaint offense that can only be made by the president directly, not someone else.

"Criticism, please continue. It is impossible to use these articles. So it must be observed properly," he said.

Previously, the Acting Director General of PP of the Ministry of Law and Security (Kemenkum HAM) Dhahana Putra said the application of the article on insulting the president in the Draft Criminal Code (RKUHP) would not target those who gave criticism. Only those who attack the dignity and dignity will be subject to criminal penalties.

"When we talk about the RKUHP, the person who can be punished is when he attacks his dignity. An example is 'this president has no clear status, his family is not clear'. Anyway, it attacks his dignity," said Dhahana in the same discussion.

Dhahana emphasized that it is important to include the regulation on attacking the dignity of the president and his deputy in the RKUHP. "Never mind the president, if our dignity is attacked, we will be angry," he said.

"Moreover, the president is elected by all Indonesians. Right now there are 265 million people, maybe half of them have the right to vote. So you can imagine in a context like this we need that article," added Dhahana.

Even so, he stressed that the public can still criticize the president. Moreover, if there are programs that are not running.

"If it is a criticism, the president is not good in terms of the program, the president is not able to carry out his program, that's just criticism. But if you attack his dignity, he can be punished," he said.