Controversial bill on juvenile court passed into law

JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives passed into law yesterday the bill on juvenile court after the government caved in to legislators' earlier demands that it scrap four contentious articles.

The scrapped articles were on custody, adoption, neglected children and the care of delinquents. Since it was submitted to the House by the government in October, the document has drawn Moslem groups' ire because the four articles would have permitted the adoption of children by adults of different faiths.

The four factions of the House -- the dominant Golkar, the Moslem-based United Development Party (PPP), the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and the Armed Forces (ABRI) -- joined the Moslem chorus asking for the articles to be dropped.

According to Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman, the government decided to drop the articles during the Dec. 11 deliberation of the document.

President Soeharto will still have to sign and enact the law and a number of directives need to be drafted before the law can come into effect.

In the plenary House meeting yesterday, PPP spokesperson S.K. Effendi praised the newly passed Law on Juvenile Court for making it clear that the government should first consider the faith of the children before it sends them to institutions.

"The (recently added) phrase (in the document) that says 'consider the faith of the children' is very important because it guarantees children the freedom to follow their own faith," he said.

The ruling was needed so children would not have to be committed to the care of social service institutions which follow a different faith, he said.

Effendi called on the government to follow up the law by introducing the necessary infrastructure, including judges, legal counsels and separate correctional institutions for juvenile delinquents.

Juniwati Masjchun Sofwan of Golkar called on the Ministry of Social Services to better meet its function, as stipulated in the juvenile court law, of taking over the care of children under eight who commit crimes and whose parents cannot care for them.

She called on the government to draw up another law to cover the issues raised in the four dropped articles.

Nana Mulyana Sukanta of PDI said the Law on Juvenile Court filled the vacuum of regulations protecting children's interests. He reiterated his faction's hopes that the document would meet the goals it sets out to achieve: to protect, guide and educate children.

"The PDI faction realizes the document has yet to comprehensively cover issues concerning children," he said, adding there was still a gap to be filled in regard to the four contentious articles.

He said the articles that needed further explanation in law should be regulated by lower-level government decrees.

He also called for the establishment of supporting infrastructure for the juvenile court, as well as better coordination between government agencies in charge of children affairs.

Nana said the legislators had a tough time discussing the definition of "children" but had finally agreed to define them as unmarried persons between the ages of eight and 18.

He discussed other issues in the newly passed law, including the ruling on jail terms for children who committed crimes. He said the law gives clear definitions on court treatment of children and does not include the death penalty or life sentences "even if they commit serious crimes which, if committed by adults, are punishable by death".

The maximum penalty for children who commit crimes is 10 years. (03)