The Joint Meeting Of Commission III Of The DPR, ICJR Proposed That The Article Of The President's Honorary Attack In The RKUHP Be Sentenced To Social Work

ICJR Executive Director Erasmus Abraham Todo Napitupulu (leftmost) in Jakarta, Wednesday. (ANTARA)

The Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR) proposes that articles related to the attack on the honor or dignity of the president and/or vice president in the latest draft of the Draft Law on the Criminal Code (RKUHP) be abolished. ICJR Executive Director Erasmus Napitupulu said, if it is not abolished then at least it is reduced by a maximum imprisonment of six months in order to streamline social work sentences. "Our insults hope that it will be threatened with six months, so that what? So that social work can be used immediately because in the context of dignity, the most important thing is that the court says that what is conveyed is wrong so that the dignity is restored, not to imprison people. So the penalty is 6 months imprisonment for effective social work,” he explained in the General Hearing Meeting (RDPU) of Commission III of the DPR RI at the Senayan Parliament Complex, Jakarta, Antara, Monday, November 14. Erasmus considered that verbal violence or verbal crime should have no consequences for criminal restrictions on the space for movement and body. He also suggested that the definition of the attack on honor or dignity of the president and/or vice president in question be limited in the form of slander, which has the meaning of accusing the president and vice president of something that he knows is not true. The definition of the insult, said Erasmus, should also apply equally to articles related to insults to the government, general power and state institutions. In addition, Erasmus suggested that insults to the government, general power and state institutions could be merged into one, namely in the perspective of insulting state institutions. Furthermore, he recommended that what is meant by state institutions in related articles also limit the possibility of widening, namely institutions whose authority is given by the 1945 Constitution. Among them are the DPR, DPD, MPR, Supreme Court, Constitutional Court, Supreme Audit Agency and Regional Government. "So the logic is not just to protect state institutions, but to provide restrictions so that other institutions, (for example) Satpol PP suddenly report and others are very dangerous," he said. In addition, Article 240 related to insults to the government which resulted in riots in society to be abolished, or at least he gave alternative recommendations so that Article 240 paragraph (1) reads, “ Everyone who in public accuses of something that he knows is not true against state institutions with the intention of causing riots in the community to be punished with imprisonment for a maximum of 1 (one) year 6 (six) months or a maximum fine of category II”. Then the next recommendation, he said again, Article 240 paragraph (2) reads, “ In the event of the crime referred to in paragraph (1) resulted in riots in the community being sentenced to imprisonment for a maximum of 3 (three) years or a maximum fine of category IV”. As for articles related to criminal acts of insult to individuals, Erasmus said that his party recommended that the threat of criminal penalties be changed to a lower level. He assessed that the threat of criminal penalties imposed by Indonesia was too high, even though in other countries the threat of criminal penalties related to having changed. "Our criminal threat is too high? Why do we have a criminal threat of defamation (it) nine months and was slandered for up to four years because according to the Netherlands we are a class nation that should be given a heavier sentence, in the Netherlands the penalty is 6 months, leadership, ” he said. Therefore, he hopes that the government and the DPR will have a deconionization spirit in drafting a new RKUHP based on human rights and Indonesia as a modern democracy. Previously, Wednesday (9/11), Commission III of the DPR RI received a draft or manuscript of the Draft Law on the Criminal Code (RUU KUHP) version November 9 resulting from public dialogue and socialization in a working meeting (raker) with the Minister of Law and Human Rights at the Senayan Parliament Complex, Jakarta.