Government And House of Representatives Still Not Transparent, BEM Se-UI: Open Access To Latest Draft Of RKUHP!

Illustration of the plenary session of the DPR. (Between)

JAKARTA - The Draft Criminal Code (RKUHP) was rejected by various elements, which led to hundreds of students taking action against the House of Representatives (DPR). The action entitled #ReformasiDikorupsi then developed on a national scale.

The RKUHP, which previously contained several controversial articles, has reportedly been revised. The draft is said to have been held by the DPR and the government. However, the general public does not have access to the revised draft RKUHP.

In response, Alliance of Student Executive Boards (BEM) throughout the University of Indonesia (se-UI) urges the DPR and the government to be transparent with legislation. They demanded that the people have access to the latest draft of the RKUHP before it was ratified in the plenary session of the DPR with the government.

"We urge the government and the DPR to immediately open the latest draft of the RKUHP", wrote the BEM Se-UI Alliance in a written statement received by VOI, Tuesday, June 14.

They also encourage the government and the DPR in the process of drafting laws and regulations, considering the obligation to ensure transparency and uphold public participation as an effort to realize the general principles of good governance, especially the principle of openness.

Especially the RKUHP which will be the basis of criminal law in Indonesia. RKUHP which of course has a direct impact on the lives of the wider community. However, until now, the public has not had access to the latest draft of the RKUHP.

"Demanding the government and the DPR to discuss the RKUHP transparently and inclusively by prioritizing meaningful public participation", they said.

In fact, there are many problem points from the September 2019 version of the RKUHP draft that need to be reviewed and discussed.

"Encouraging the Government and Indonesian House of Representatives to review problematic articles in the RKUHP before ratification is carried out", said the BEM Se-UI Alliance.

Efforts to ratify the RKUHP have basically been delayed since 2019. This is because the September 2019 version of the draft RKUHP has drawn controversy and rejection from various circles of society due to the presence of problematic articles that need to be reviewed.

In response to this response, President Joko Widodo September 2019 decided to postpone the ratification of the RKUHP and withdraw the draft RKUHP from the DPR to be followed up by the government. However, to date, no latest draft of the RKUHP has been made public.

This is contrary to the fact that the process of discussing the RKUHP by the government and the DPR continued after the postponement in 2019.

Without disclosing the entirety of the latest draft of the RKUHP, the government and the DPR continued to discuss the RKUHP in a Hearing Meeting (RDP) on May 25, 2022.

The government and the DPR are only limited to informing the matrix containing fourteen crucial issues of the RKUHP, even though there are at least 24 problem points in the September 2019 version of the RKUHP Problem Inventory List proposed by the National Alliance for Criminal Code Reform.

Not only that, in the RDP, the BEM Se-UI Alliance explained that the government and the DPR agreed to immediately bring the RKUHP into a plenary meeting because the first-level discussions had been carried out in the previous period.

This decision is actually unfortunate considering that there has been no further discussion on the substance of the RKUHP which upholds transparency and meaningful public participation.