TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsAuthoritarian fears loom as new criminal code takes effect
Several articles of the new Criminal Code (KUHP) and Criminal Law Procedures Code (KUHAP) may erode civil liberties and freedom of expression, especially rights to criticize government policies, according to pro-democracy activists and scholars.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Activists hold a protest against the new Criminal Code (KUHP) on Dec. 5, 2022, outside the Senayan legislative complex in Central Jakarta . The House of Representatives passed on Dec. 6 a revision to the Criminal Code that would outlaw pre-marital sex aside from other sweeping changes to the criminal code, a move critics deemed as a setback to the country's freedoms. (AFP/Adek Berry)
C
ivil groups have warned the newly effective Criminal Code (KUHP) and Criminal Law Procedures Code (KUHAP) can undermine civil liberties and risk pushing the country toward an authoritarian state amid growing reports of intimidation targeting government critics.
The new laws officially came into force on Friday to replace the previous decades-old KUHP and KUHAP inherited from Dutch colonial rule, which the government said no longer aligned with Indonesia’s current legal and cultural norms.
Coordinating Law, Human Rights, Immigration and Correctional Services Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra described the laws’ implementation as a “historic moment”, which marks the beginning of a more “humane, modern and just” era of law enforcement.
“The new KUHP balances freedom of expression with public interest, and ensures that punishment is proportional,” Yusril said in a statement on Friday, adding sensitive matters are treated as complaint-based offenses to limit state interference in private life.
He added the implementation of the new laws would just be the beginning of a continuous review.
“The government,” Yusril added, “welcomes feedback from civil society to ensure a criminal justice system that is fair, humane and sovereign.”
Read also: New criminal code requires public oversight, minister says
