Controversial bill on juvenile court passed into law
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)