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he House of Representatives passed into law on Monday a 2016 regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) that stipulates chemical castration for sex offenders, though it remains unclear who will carry out the punishment or how it will be executed.

The legislation, now named the 2016 Child Protection Law, does not state mechanisms for carrying out the punishment, which can be done by injecting or orally administering drugs.

Chemical castration, unlike surgical castration, involves the administration of anti-androgenic drugs to reduce sexual interest, fantasies and sexual arousal, according to medical experts. The effects supposedly end if the periodic treatment, administered once every three months, is discontinued.

Lawmakers and the government have said the mechanisms will be outlined in a government regulation (PP), but officials have yet to decide who will carry out the punishment and how it will be done. The Perppu was issued in May.

The Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) on Wednesday reiterated its refusal to play a role in the castration, saying it was against medical ethics. The IDI suggested that the government hire non-doctors for the task, because doctors had an obligation to help and cure, not to cause organ dysfunction.

“The government can train people to do the injections, but not doctors. Doctors can’t hurt people, and the regulations should respect ethical principles,” IDI chairman Daeng Mohammad Faqih said.

Although the IDI said the House and government agreed with the suggestion, Daeng added that the government should be reminded of the association’s stance when it drafted a PP outlining the punishment mechanisms.

“The IDI can only play a role in rehabilitation after the castration,” he added. The IDI has also warned the government that castration will not be effective as a deterrent, because sex crimes are not caused by hormonal impulses but by behavioral disorders.

“So, what’s the point of the hormonal castration injections?” Daeng said.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo issued the Perppu in May in response to public demands for harsher punishments for rapists following a number of reports of child murders and sex crimes.

Besides chemical castration, the regulation also stipulates the implant of an electronic microchip into the bodies of convicted rapists to allow law enforcement agencies to monitor their movements after serving time in prison.

The law will make it possible for judges to hand down life sentences or the death penalty to convicted child rapists, which has raised concern among human rights activists.

“It has become law. Want it or not, all parties and people should follow. We will prepare the PP to elaborate in more detail about the mechanisms,” said Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Yohana Yembise.

An alliance of organizations opposing the law called Alliance 99 blasted the regulation for being perpetrator-oriented and ignoring the rights of victims, such as compensation.

Chemical castration and the death penalty violate the human rights of perpetrators, it said, adding that it was also a waste of taxpayers’ money.

“The government seems to be doing this because of pressure from certain people without considering the public situation as a whole,” said spokesman for the group Supriyadi Widodo Eddyono.