Carlos Paath – A conservative legislator has sprung to the defense of a proposed article against witchcraft in a newly drafted revision to the Criminal Code, insisting it addresses a more serious problem than it appears to.

Indra, a member of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said on Thursday that the real target of the proposed article was the practice of fraud by self-proclaimed shamans and spiritual healers, and not the actual notion of witchcraft itself.

"What needs to be emphasized here is that the substance of the article is the fraud, not the witchcraft," he said. "Anyone claiming to be, or advertising themselves as capable of using witchcraft to hurt or kill others is committing fraud."

Indra, who serves on the House of Representatives' Commission III, which oversees legal affairs and is responsible for deliberating the proposed amendments to the 95-year-old Criminal Code, said there were a lot of cases of people advertising such services in tabloids and magazines.

"Those are the people we're after. I believe this initiative by the government should be strongly supported," he said.

The existing Criminal Code contains no provisions on the practice of witchcraft. The inclusion of the proposed article in the revised code that was submitted to the House by the government earlier this month raised questions by criminologists on how law enforcers could define witchcraft, as well as concerns from practitioners that the law could be abused to shake them down.