Coordinating Minister Mahfud Inflamed, Said Democratic Legislator Benny Harman Inconsequential About The Article Insulting The President

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam) Mahfud MD (Documentation: Kemenko Polhukam)

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs, Mahfud MD, spoke after his name was dragged by Democrat Party politician, Benny Kabur Harman, about insulting the president in the Criminal Code Bill.

Benny said this article was abolished in the era of Mahfud when he served as Chairman of the Constitutional Court in 2010. As a result, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) when he was President could not complain to the police when people insulted him with the phrase 'buffalo'.

Obviously, Mahfud was inflamed. He said Benny was inconsequential with this statement. "It's a bit ridiculous. The deletion of Articles of insult to the President was carried out long before I entered the Constitutional Court", said Mahfud through his Twitter account @mohmahfudmd, Wednesday, June 9.

Mahfud said that he became the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court in 2008. Before becoming Coordinating Minister, the KUHP Bill (Criminal Code) had been approved by the DPR (House of Representatives) in September 2019 but its ratification was postponed.

"I became a judge of the Constitutional Court in April 2008. Before I was the Coordinating Minister for the Criminal Code, the DPR had approved it, but in September 2019, the ratification was postponed in the DPR. Because now it's in the DPR, yes, just cross out the Article. You have people and factions in the DPR", said Mahfud.

Screenshot of Mahfud MD's Twitter

During the working meeting of Commission III of the House of Representatives with the National Human Rights Commission, Yasonna Laoly, at the Senayan Parliament Complex today, Benny mentioned Mahfud's name regarding the article on insulting the president in the Draft Criminal Code.

According to Benny, SBY could not report people who insulted him because this article was deleted when Mahfud was Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court. According to Benny, today's Mahfud is different from the past Mahfud because he refuses to revive the article on insulting the president.