JAKARTA - Minister of Law and Human Rights (Menkumham) Yasonna Laoly said the criminal law code (KUHP) or "Wetboek van Strafrecht voor Nederlandsch Indie" which is the Dutch Colonial heritage deviates from the principles of general criminal law.
"The Dutch colonial legacy of the Criminal Code has developed massively and deviates a lot from the principles of general criminal law," he said, quoted by Antara, Monday, June 14.
This development, continued Laoly, is closely related to pure criminal law and administrative criminal law, especially regarding the three main problems in criminal law as stated by Packer in "The Limits of The Criminal Sanctions".
First, said the Minister of Law and Human Rights, the formulation of prohibited acts, secondly the formulation of criminal liability, and the formulation of sanctions in the form of crimes and actions.
Conventional sentencing schemes always focus on these three problems without considering the purpose of sentencing so that punishment is as if seen as an absolute consequence as a reflection of the "in cauda venemun" principle.
In fact, Laoly said, the modern criminal system should always consider human values, whether related to the perpetrators of crimes or victims.
The Minister of Law and Human Rights said that the draft law (RUU) of the Criminal Code is one of the government's efforts to develop a national criminal law recode system that aims to replace the old Criminal Code as a legal product of the Dutch East Indies colonial era.
"This re-codification effort is aimed at solving problems that arise due to the unclear implementation of Wetboek van Strafrecht voor Nederlandsch Indie," he said.
Prof. JE Sahetapy, an expert on Indonesian law, often reminds that there is no single KUHP that has been officially passed by the legislature and executive. There is no official translation of the Criminal Code and it is still unclear which translation of the Criminal Code applies in Indonesia considering that there are differences between one translation and another.
In line with that, Deputy Minister of Law and Human Rights (Wamenkumham) Prof. Edward Omar Sharif Hiariej said that the RKUHP was something important and urgent to be ratified immediately.
"Because, for almost 76 years we have lived using an uncertain Criminal Code," he said.
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