Ulma Haryanto – The Supreme Court issued a decree on Tuesday updating the definition and treatment of petty crimes, but observers said that because the new rules were only applicable to judges and not police or prosecutors, a more comprehensive revision was needed.

The new rules take into consideration the present-day value of the rupiah, which is far more inflated than in the 1960s when the Criminal Code was first issued.

Previously, a petty crime was defined as an act that caused a loss of less than Rp 250, a microscopic sum in today's Indonesia. The Supreme Court decree raises that threshold to Rp 2.5 million ($275).

Supreme Court spokesman Ridwan Mansyur Ishak said all amounts relevant to petty crimes "will be adjusted 10,000 times, including the fines."

The decree also orders expedited handling of such cases. "For cases with material losses less than Rp 2.5 million, the presiding judge has to proceed with 'a rapid examination,'?" Ridwan said, referring to an expedited court examination process that only requires one judge instead of a panel of three and can be completed in just a day.

Ridwan said this would effectively eliminate the need to detain a defendant in a petty crime during trial. "The court has been trying petty cases recently, and this is being scrutinized by the people," he told the Jakarta Globe on Tuesday.

Some recent high-profile petty crimes, such as that of Rasminah, a 55-year-old Indonesian grandmother convicted of stealing oxtail meat and plates, have led to criticism of the country's judicial system.

But because it only addresses judges, the Supreme Court decree does not mean cases like Rasminah's would no longer happen. "This decree only applies to the Supreme Court but not to the police and prosecutors," legal analyst Bambang Widodo Umar said. This is why the decree should apply to the entire Criminal Code, he said.

Police detained Rasminah for four months without legal assistance before her news of her case broke and the subsequent public outrage led to her release.

Kiagus Ahmad of the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) said other aspects of the Criminal Code needed to be updated as well. For example, the article on "unpleasant conduct."

"The smallest insult can get a person detained up to five years, since it does not clearly define what 'unpleasant' is," he said. In January, an 11-year-old boy was charged with unpleasant conduct in Sidrap, South Sulawesi, after a stone he threw apparently hit the house of a local businessman.

Kiagus added that the court decree "should be followed up by a stronger legal product."

"We still have to appreciate what the Supreme Court did, but if we take a look at the police's detention facilities, they are full right now because of petty crimes," he said. "It is very important to have this synchronized with the police and prosecutors as well."

Eva Kusuma Sundari, a lawmaker from House of Representatives Commission III overseeing legal affairs, said a plan to revise the Criminal Code had been around for quite some time. "The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights first initiated the revision, but it went nowhere for 13 years," she said.

Wahiduddin Adams, director general for legislation at the Justice Ministry, said his division would consider the court decree "where appropriate."

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court also released its "annual achievements" for 2011 in which it praised itself for what it called "the court's serious efforts to improve and change."