Jakarta – The National Alliance for Criminal Code Reforms has called on President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to open talks with experts from various fields to discuss the Criminal Code bill currently being deliberated at the House of Representatives.
The Alliance said Jokowi's recent meeting with four legal experts, namely Mahfud MD, Luhut Pangaribuan, Maruarar Siahaan and Edward Omar Sharif Hiariej, sent a signal that the bill was discussed with only a few legal experts despite the fact that it would have wide-ranging impacts once it was passed into law.
"The bill may have a broad range of impacts on all aspects of human life, such as health, women's empowerment and child protection issues," said Erasmus Napitupulu, the managing director of the Alliance, in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post on Monday.
Erasmus said the Alliance was of the opinion that it was unnecessary for the House and the government to pass the bill on April 19 as expected, because there had not yet been enough preparations for its immediate ratification.
The Alliance perceived the current pressure for the immediate ratification of the Criminal Code bill to be only aimed at appeasing the romantic sentiment of certain parties, who wanted to get rid of Dutch colonialist elements in the current law.
"There is no country in this world that has claimed originality of their laws. Our current Criminal Code draft revision has been composed mainly with that kind of romanticism as its basis," Erasmus said.
"The President should hold a multidimensional dialogue and consultation to protect, respect and improve political and civil freedoms in society." (gis/ebf)