Dede Leni Mardianti, Jakarta – The Criminal Code (KUHP) and the Criminal Procedure Code (KUHAP) are entering into effect today, January 2, 2026. Both legal instruments are being implemented simultaneously despite being ratified at separate times.
Speaker of the Indonesian House, Puan Maharani, previously said on Tuesday, November 18, 2025, that KUHAP would come into effect simultaneously with KUHP, which had been previously ratified in 2022.
During their development, the new KUHAP and KUHP were embroiled in controversies and rejection due to a number of perceived problematic provisions.
Problematic provisions in the new Criminal Code
Corruption has been acknowledged as an extraordinary crime governed under the Corruption Law. But the new Criminal Code compromised this status. Under Article 603 and Article 604, corruption is now punished with lighter sentences, from 4 years to 2 years, and a reduced fine from Rp200 million to Rp10 million.
The new KUHP also outlined the defamation of the president and vice president, state institutions, religions, acts of sedition, as well as the prohibition of spreading communist/Marxist-Leninist ideas. This is feared to undermine democracy in Indonesia and threaten freedom of speech.
At that time, the international news agency Reuters took to the ratification of KUHP, in an article titled "Indonesia Bans Sex Outside Marriage in New Criminal Code," highlighting the penalties that could lead to a year's imprisonment.
"These laws are part of a raft of legal changes that critics say undermine civil liberties in the world's third-largest democracy," wrote Reuters on December 6, 2022. Despite facing opposition, this new Criminal Code was finally enacted by then-President Joko Widodo on January 2, 2023.
On a similar vein, the Criminal Procedure Code was also not free from controversies. Lawmakers and the government rushed the discussions to adopt the bill.
The revision of KUHAP had actually surfaced in 2023, but its deliberation was stagnant. It was only in November 2024 that the Expert Body of the Council was tasked with drafting the academic manuscript of the KUHAP bill.
Subsequently, on February 18, 2025, the KUHAP bill was designated as a proposal by the DPR. Then, in March, the parliament received a letter from President Prabowo Subianto regarding the appointment of government representatives to discuss the KUHAP bill.
On Thursday, November 13, 2025, the DPR's Commission III and the government agreed on the substance of the KUHAP Bill at the first-level deliberation. Subsequently, the KUHAP bill was brought to the second-level deliberation in a plenary session for ratification.
KUHAP revision was passed amid intense backlash from civil society groups and legal academics. Civil society groups feared increased criminalization potential during detention because it may be conducted without the court's permission.
KUHAP rang alarms on bolstered role and expanded discretion of police. The new law could help perpetuate abuse of power practices.
"The government and the DPR's plan to ratify the new KUHAP will only create a dead-end, tightly shutting the door and even obstructing the discourse of police reform that was announced," said a representative of the coalition of civil society for police reform, Arif Maulana, in a written statement on Tuesday, November 18, 2025.
The coalition also reported 11 members of the KUHAP bill working committee to the DPR's Council of Ethics, alleging that they manipulated meaningful participation by falsely citing names. The House of Representatives denied this accusation.
Some of the groups cited for consultation were the Indonesian Judicial Research Society (IJRS), Legal Aid Institute (LBH) Masyarakat, National Coalition of Disability Organizations, and the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (LBH APIK).