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New Criminal Code sets back civil liberties
The House has passed a revised Criminal Code that seems to contradict the government’s stated aim that revising the KUHP was a “historic effort to decolonize” provisions inherited from Dutch rule.
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A student protester holds up a poster that reads “the latest New Order” during a demonstration on Sept. 23, 2019 at the Senayan legislative compound in Jakarta, objecting to controversial articles in the draft Criminal Code Bill (RKUHP) deemed to curtail civil liberties. (JP/Donny Fernando)
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ndonesia updated its Criminal Code (KUHP) on Tuesday, when the House of Representatives passed a newly revised version that has ushered the country into a new era in which illiberalism and religious conservatism prevail.
At the House plenary session where the bill was passed, lawmakers and government officials claimed they had softened the provisions widely deemed as draconian, such as those that criminalize insulting a sitting president and outlaw nonmarital sex and cohabitation, as well as articles on the death penalty.
Despite these claims, the new KUHP still retains a number of controversial articles that Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid says are “a setback to the protection of civil liberties in the country, particularly freedom of speech and press freedom”.
The newly passed penal code reintroduces colonial-era bans on insulting the president and the government. The Constitutional Court had repealed the two provisions in 2006 and 2007, respectively, on the grounds that they undermined the right to freedom of expression.
According to the final draft of the Criminal Code Bill released on Tuesday just before it was passed, insulting a sitting president or vice president carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison. The three articles and several paragraphs regulating this offense are not applicable to criticisms voiced during a demonstration.
Another provision criminalizes unlicensed public protests if they turn violent, “harm the public interest” or disrupt public services.
“We have tried our best to accommodate the important issues and different opinions that were debated,” Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly said during Tuesday’s plenary session.
