Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – Legal experts have faulted the bill on the Criminal Code, drafted by the government to replace its outdated antecedent, for glaring omissions on democratic and human rights principles.
Indonesian Legal Aid Institute Foundation chairman M. Patra Zen outlined at least five contentious articles in the bill, initiated 25 years ago to replace the Dutch colonial code and now being drafted by a special team under the Justice and Human Rights Ministry.
"I'm afraid that the government is now trying to extend its power through the Criminal Code," he said on the sidelines of a seminar on the bill Wednesday.
He urged the government to evaluate articles on capital punishment, defamation and public disorder, state secrets and the prohibition of Marxism and communism.
"The application of the death sentence is against the human rights and it should be removed from the bill," Patra said, adding there was no direct correlation between the application of capital punishment and an attendant low crime rate.
Also controversial is the definition of "defamation" in Article 308, which states that "anybody who publishes obscure, excessive and incomplete news that could prompt public disorder could be sentenced to one year in prison".
Patra said the phrase "excessive" and "public disorder" were open to wide-ranging interpretations, and they should be made more specific or totally removed from the bill.
The government has in the past used such articles to jail journalists for reports deemed to endanger the nation's "social order". "Freedom of the press that gives journalists the right to publish news is not a criminal act," Patra said.
He also questioned an article that could lead to five years' imprisonment for those convicted of defaming the president and vice president. "What if we try to criticize the person of the president, not the institution, then will we also be charged?"
University of Indonesia scholar Rudy Satrio Mukantardjo, who specializes in the study of the Criminal Code, said the House of Representatives would encounter difficulty in deliberating the bill because of the many points requiring lengthy discussion. "It could take years for its deliberation," he said.
Pocut Eliza, the secretary of the team assigned to draft the bill, said that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Justice and Human Rights Minister Hamid Awaluddin had requested revisions to the draft. "We'll have a meeting to discuss the bill's contentious articles next Monday," she said. But she argued that criminal law reform was urgently needed as part of the process of decolonization, modernization and democratization.
The bill, consisting of 36 chapters and 741 article, would incorporate new laws, including on corruption and child protection. It also includes articles on pornography and money laundering although their drafts are still before the House.