Criminal Code revision fails to address domestic violence

Criminal Code revision fails to address domestic violence

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The draft revision of the Criminal Code has sparked new concerns
about gender questions, specifically with regard to female and
morality issues, a scholar said.

Criminologist Harkristuti Harkrisnowo of the University of
Indonesia told a discussion on Monday that the draft failed to
address domestic violence, which is a crime in nature but has
been widely ignored in the male-dominated nation.

"Clauses on marital rape and domestic violence are not
included," Harkristuti said. "What is meant by violence is not
only physical violence, but also sexual and psychological
violence."

She asked the government-sanctioned team assigned to draft the
revision to the Criminal Code to spend more time to explain to
and discuss it with the public.

The increasing cases of violence against women led to the
drafting and enforcement of the law on domestic violence last
year. According to the law, any type of violence taking place in
the home, including marital rape, is a crime.

The revision of the Criminal Code, which is a legacy of the
Dutch colonial government, has also drawn criticism for
endangering freedom of the press.

Another panelists at the discussion, deputy chairman of the
Press Council RH Siregar, said the draft did not present an
authentic interpretation of terms such as hatred, defamation and
hostility, was very general in scope and was open to
interpretation.

He said that the present Criminal Code contained articles,
known as haatzaai artikelen (articles on sowing hatred) that
could destroy the press.

For example, Article 154 of the Code states that any person
who publicly insults the government is liable to a maximum seven
years in prison.

The new draft also threatens the press with a maximum of 10
years in prison for those advocating communism, Marxism and
Leninism. Tough prison terms can also be imposed for insulting
the head of state or insulting public authorities and state
institutions.

Journalists can be jailed for a year and barred from carrying
out their profession for publishing doubtful or incomplete
reports that lead to public disturbances, the draft says.

Despite the controversy, the team drawing up the revision
insisted that the draft amendment of the Criminal Code was
structured under the principle of pluralism.

The head of the team, Muladi, said he expect the draft to be
completed this week.

"Next week, the draft will be presented to the justice
minister, and the minister will pass it on to the House of
Representatives," Muladi, a former justice minister, said.

He deemed the controversy a consequence of the pluralism the
nation maintained.

He predicted the House would need a year or two to finish the
deliberation of the draft law, which contains 720 articles.

"There will be a period of transition after the draft has been
discussed and it will need explaining before it is decreed," he
said. (004)