JAKARTA - The Ministry of Law and Human Rights (Kemenkumham) emphasized that the new Criminal Code (KUHP) which is effective on January 2, 2026 will not silence democratization in the country at all.
"It is not true, it is misinformation if it is said that the national Criminal Code will silence democratization and limit freedom of opinion or curb freedom of expression," said Deputy Minister of Law and Human Rights (Wamenkumham) Edward Omar Sharif Hiariej in Banda Aceh, as reported by Antara, Tuesday, February 28.
Because, he said, various provisions regulated in the new Criminal Code related to freedom of expression, opinion, democracy, convey criticism, convey thoughts, both written and verbal, which are formulated by referring to various decisions of the Constitutional Court (MK).
"This means that freedom of expression and opinion is guaranteed with such strict boundaries both in the article formulation and in its explanation," said the man who is familiarly called Eddy.
The Professor of Criminal Law from Gadjah Mada University (UGM) added that the mission of the new national Criminal Code is decolonization. In simple terms, the Criminal Code is only trying to eliminate or release the nuances of colonialism.
If you want to dig deeper into decolonization, you must open the book I of the National Criminal Code which contains principles and basics of criminal law that eliminate the nuances of colonialism, including being no longer oriented to legal certainty alone but justice and benefit.
Then punishment guidelines that provide parameters or standard measures of judges in adjudicating someone.
"So, once again it is not on legal certainty but benefit and justice," he said.
Still in book I, he said, related to the forgiveness of judges and alternative criminal modifications. These things are an effort to release the new Criminal Code from the Dutch colonial nuances
Not only that, he explained, the new Criminal Code or which was ratified on January 6, 2022 carried a consolidation mission. To note after World War II, various crimes emerged in new dimensions that could not be overcome by conventional criminal law.
As a result, after World War II that occurred was a decoding in which the legislators withdrew several articles in the Criminal Code and then became separate laws. For example, the crime of office issued from the Criminal Code which was later used as a Law on the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption.
Likewise, the crime of aircraft hijacking was withdrawn from the Criminal Code and then a law on Aviation was made. This means that the Criminal Code's mission has only tried to collect various rules in the Criminal Code scattered outside the Criminal Code.
Departing from this problem, the Government and the Indonesian House of Representatives as legislators carry re-modification or reincorporate provisions outside the Criminal Code into the new Criminal Code.
"So there is a special chapter in the new Criminal Code known as the special criminal chapter," he explained.
In the new Criminal Code, he explained, the government and the DPR are trying to harmonize around 200 more sectoral laws outside the Criminal Code, including synchronizing the inclusion of criminal threats within the new Criminal Code. The goal is to harmonize with various laws outside the Criminal Code.
"The last mission of the new Criminal Code is modernization," he said.
"The new Criminal Code is oriented towards a modern criminal paradigm that refers to corrective, restorative, and rehabilitative justice," he said.
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