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)