Wamenkumham Calls The New Criminal Code Valid January 2, 2026, 4 Years After Being Enacted

Deputy Minister of Law and Human Rights Edward Omar Sharif Hiariej at the KPK's Red and White Building, Kuningan Persada, South Jakarta, Monday, March 20. (Tsa Tsia-VOI)

RIAU - Deputy Minister of Law and Human Rights (Wamenkumham) Edward Omar Sharif Hiariej conveyed that the National Criminal Code (KUHP) which was passed in December 2022 will take effect on January 2, 2026.

"One of the fundamental differences between the new Criminal Code and the colonial Criminal Code is the put forwarding of restorative justice norms, where the punishment that will be given to each criminal act will have a tough point on restoring justice, not merely punishment," said the Deputy Minister of Law and Human Rights at the Unri Pekanbaru campus, Wednesday, May 17, which was confiscated by Antara.

He said that during the Kumham Goes to Campus event by realizing the National Criminal Code (KUHP) to 700 students at the M. Diah Building, Faculty of Teachers and Education (FKIP) Riau University.

The Deputy Minister of Law and Human Rights explained that prioritizing restorative justice norms, where the punishment that will be given to each criminal act will have a tough point on the restoration of justice, not just punishment

The Deputy Minister said that the Criminal Code is no longer a means of revenge. Previously, the criminal law was oriented towards retributive justice, using criminal law as a means of revenge or Lex Talionis.

"Now the national Criminal Code has changed and is structured oriented to modern criminal law, namely corrective justice, restorative justice and rehabilitative justice and the KUHP vision no longer focuses on revenge but justice for rehabilitation. For criminals there are sanctions imposed, namely Crime and Action," he said.

So he said again that in this Criminal Code as much as possible the sentence was not imposed in a short time and one of the goals was to reduce Overcapacity in detention centers/prisons in Indonesia.

The Deputy Minister of Law and Human Rights said that there are five missions to change people's mindset from the point of view of criminal law, namely Democratization, Decolonization, Modification of Criminal Alternatives, Consolidation and Harmonization and Modernization.

"This National KUHP is always adapted to the times and dynamics of the community," he said.

The Chancellor of Riau University, Sri Indarti welcomed the activities of Kumham Goes to Campus which were carried out and hoped that the public could disseminate good and correct information related to the Criminal Code so that information bias did not occur.