Government Urged to Issue Implementing Regulations for New Criminal Code

An academic from Pakuan University in Bogor, West Java, has urged the government to immediately issue the implementing regulations for the National Criminal Code (KUHP) and Criminal Procedure Code (KUHAP), which officially came into effect in January 2026. Professor Andi Muhammad Asrun, a Professor of Constitutional Law at the university’s Postgraduate School, stated that failure to issue these regulations would create obstacles in their implementation. “In my view, the government must immediately issue the government regulations as required by several articles in the KUHAP and KUHP. Because if they are not in place, it will become an obstacle in some aspects of legal implementation,” Asrun said when confirmed in Jakarta on Friday. He noted that the National KUHP and KUHAP are excellent pieces of legislation produced by the House of Representatives (DPR) through Commission III. He added that the implementation of these codes is no longer the DPR’s concern, but rather the responsibility of the relevant ministries in cooperation with the State Secretary or Cabinet Secretary. “So, do not let this good work be marred by these technical issues. The government regulation is the government’s responsibility,” he stated. Asrun emphasised that the implementing regulations must be expedited because the KUHP and KUHAP require many clarifications, such as affirming that an acquittal can be appealed to the Supreme Court. “This needs to be reinforced as procedural law. And that is the government’s task,” said Asrun, who is also a member of the Judicial Commission’s Judge Recruitment Division. He added that the existence of the national KUHAP serves as the formal historical foundation for the enforcement of the national KUHP. The KUHP and KUHAP are considered a major achievement of the DPR’s Commission III, which will become a legacy for the administration of President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka. The absence of the government regulations related to the KUHP and KUHAP was also highlighted by Commission XIII DPR member Agun Gunandjar Sudarta during a working meeting discussing the Ministry of Law’s 2026 State Budget Financial Report at the Parliament Complex in Senayan on Wednesday (15/7). Agun questioned the budget absorption for the Draft Government Regulation (RPP) on the KUHP in the Ministry of Law’s 2025 budget, which reached 100 percent, yet the RPP has still not been issued three years after the National KUHP was enacted. The RPP in question concerns The Living Law under Government Regulation Number 55 of 2025. Meanwhile, the RPPs on commutation of sentences, and on crimes and punishments, are still under discussion.