RKUHP 2019 And 2022 Are The Same But Not The Same

UI students held a demonstration against the revision of the RKUHP in front of the State Palace, coinciding with President Jokowi's birthday on June 21, 2022. (Rizky Sulistio/VOI)

JAKARTA - On September 18, 2019, Commission III of the House of Representatives in the Level I RKUHP Discussion Working Meeting with the Ministry of Law and Human Rights (Kemenkumham) agreed on the Draft Criminal Code (RKUHP). The results of this agreement will soon be ratified in a plenary meeting to be held a few days later.

However, on September 20, 2019, four days before the plenary meeting was held, President Jokowi suddenly instructed his staff to postpone the ratification.

"I ordered the Minister of Law and Human Rights to convey this attitude to the DPR. So that the ratification of the Criminal Code Bill is postponed and the DPR does not carry out its ratification during this period," Jokowi said at the Bogor Palace to reporters, Friday, September 20, 2019.

Jokowi assessed that there were still materials that needed further study, so he had to pay close attention to the input of all those who objected to a number of articles on the RKUHP.

At that time, there was turmoil. Activists and civil society held a demonstration against the contents of the RKUHP. Academics also call the RKUHP a product of colonialism.

One of the posters brought by protesters regarding the revision of the RKUHP at the RI House of Representatives in 2019. (Antara/Aditya Pradana Putra)

"On the substance aspect, there is one view that this is still a colonial nuance," said Suparji Ahmad, a criminal law expert from Al Azhar University Indonesia, as quoted by Kompas.com.

The substance of the RKUHP, continued Suparji, is not in line with the values of Human Rights (HAM) and democracy because there are articles on freedom of expression that make people potentially subject to crime.

"So, there is still a debate about interpretation, yes, who has dignity, then about how people can be punished in order to express opinions and so on," he said.

Three years later, the RKUHP polemic has re-emerged to the public. The government and the DPR held a hearing to discuss the revision of the regulation. After this, news emerged that the RKUHP would be ratified in July 2022.

However, Wamenkumham Edward OS Hiariej denied this.

"Nope (it will not be ratified this July). Because next week is the recess (DPR). Meanwhile we are still improving the draft," said the Deputy Minister of Law and Human Rights. "There are revisions to several articles based on public input. Then, regarding article references. There are two articles that have been deleted. If two articles are deleted, it means that the article numbers have clearly changed. There are still a lot of typos too. Continue, synchronization between the torso and explanation. Lastly, the matter of criminal sanctions. We have to synchronize so that there is no disparity," he told reporters at the Senayan Parliament Complex, 27 June 2022.

One week later, the draft RKUHP was completed. The Ministry of Law and Human Rights immediately submitted this draft to Commission III of the House of Representatives during a working meeting on July 6, 2022. In total, there are 632 articles in the Draft Criminal Code.

Even so, said Edward, the discussion of the draft RKUHP between the government and the DPR is still open, although not comprehensive, only concerning 14 issues that had become polemics.

The following are the 14 issues of the RKUHP:

Issues related to the living law or customary criminal law (Article 2) Issues related to the death penalty (Article 200)3. Issues related to attacking the dignity of the president and vice president (Article 218)4. Issues related to criminal acts because they have supernatural powers (Article 252)5. Issues related to poultry and livestock destroying gardens sown with seeds (Articles 278-279)6. Issues related to contempt of court crime (Article 281)7. Issues related to blasphemy (Article 304)8. Issues related to animal abuse (Article 342)9. Issues related to pregnancy prevention tools and abortion (Article 414-416)10. Issues related to homelessness (Article 431)11. Abortion related issues (Articles 469-471)12. Issues related to adultery (Article 417)13. Issues related to cohabitation (Article 418)14. Rape-related issues (Article 479) Revision still reaps polemic

However, a number of people think that the revised RKUHP is not much different from the previous one. The articles that had become a polemic were still maintained. For example, the article on insults and attacks on the dignity of the president and vice president.

Article 240 states that anyone who publicly insults the legitimate government which results in riots in the community shall be punished with a maximum imprisonment of 3 (three) years or a maximum fine of category IV (Rp 2 billion).

Whereas in Article 241 it is stated, every person who broadcasts, displays, or pastes writing or pictures so that it is visible to the public, listens to recordings so that they are heard by the public, or disseminates by means of information technology containing insults to the legitimate government with the intention that the contents of the insults are known to the public. resulting in riots in the community shall be punished with a maximum imprisonment of 4 (four) years or a maximum fine of category V (Rp 500,000,000).

Article 218 concerning the prohibition against attacking the honor or dignity of the president and vice president is regulated in Article 218. According to Paragraph (1) Article 218, any person who publicly attacks the honor or dignity of the President or Vice President shall be punished with imprisonment for a maximum of 3 (three) years. three) years 6 (six) Months or a maximum fine of category IV (Rp 200,000,000).

Menkumham Yasonna Laoly draft of the new RKUHP revision to the Indonesian House of Representatives. (Kemenkumham)

Then in Article 219 it is stated, every person who broadcasts, displays, or pastes writing or pictures so that it is visible to the public, listens to the recording so that it is heard by the public, or disseminates it by means of information technology which contains an attack on the honor or dignity of the President or Vice President by with the intention that the contents are known or more publicly known, shall be punished with imprisonment for a maximum of 4 (four) years and 6 (six) months or a fine of category IV at most.

In this latest draft, insulting the President and Vice President is a complaint offense. Only the President and Vice President have the right to report it to law enforcement officials. In fact, said Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR) researcher Maidina Rahmawati, in the current Criminal Code, the article has been annulled by the Constitutional Court. After all, the President and Vice President are public offices.

“It is possible for the president or his deputy to report their citizens because they feel insulted. There is no clear standard between insults and criticism. So, the modification is not worth it, what's the point?" he added, quoted from Kompas.com.

Menkumham Yasonna Laoly called this article a clearer of boundaries that must be maintained as a civilized Indonesian society. Everyone has the legal right to protect their dignity and worth.

"Not to limit criticism. If I am insulted by people, I have a legal right to dignity and worth. Not as a public official. I always say, if I am criticized that the Menkumham is incompetent, prisons, immigration, it doesn't matter to me. But if I attack my dignity once, for example, I am said to be an illegitimate child, that can't be done," Yasonna said in a written statement on the official website of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights.

"If freedom is free, it's not freedom, it's anarchy. I don't think we have to get there. I think we have boundaries that we have to protect as civilized Indonesians. I think that civilization should be our level, " he added again.

Press Freedom Threatened

The Press Council also believes that there are still 14 articles and 9 clusters that have the potential to weaken press freedom and need to be abolished or reformulated.

In fact, said the Chairman of the Press Council, Prof. Azyumardi Azra, in 2018, the Press Council and its constituents had submitted a proposal for 8 clusters of articles in the RKUHP which were considered problematic, but they did not receive a response.

"In the current draft, there are actually 9 clusters of 22 general articles that interfere with the right to expression, 14 of which are related to press freedom," said Prof Azra when meeting with Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD in his office, Thursday (28/7).

The Press Council requested that articles related to press freedom which contain offenses must be corrected. The problematic articles were dropped or reformulated.

The chairman of the Press Council, Azyumardi Azra, met the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD. (Press Council)

“Reporting on terrorism can also be sued because it must be complete. Press releases are definitely up-to-date and incomplete. Likewise, the matter of insulting the president to the lurah/village head, can be a case. I'm worried that there will be high self-censorship in the media, this is dangerous for the survival of the press and society," added Press Council Member Arif Zulkifli.

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD provided an opportunity. According to him, there is still time to discuss the RKUHP which is disturbing.

"Maybe if there is a problem, it's not postponed but repaired. If it is clear that there is a dangerous article, it will be deleted or reformulated. Present the reformulation concretely as well as the simulation. Tomorrow I will submit it to the Ministry of Law and Human Rights. We will summon Wamenkumham next week,” he said as written on the official website of the Press Council, Thursday (28/7).