Komnas Perempuan: 100 Regional Policies Incompatible with New Criminal Code

The National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) has recorded 100 regional policies that still contain criminal sanctions inconsistent with the new Criminal Code (KUHP).

“We have documented 100 regional policies that are no longer aligned with the KUHP,” said Komnas Perempuan Deputy Chair Dahlia Madanih during a media briefing in Jakarta on Friday.

Of the 100 regional policies, she said, the majority are concentrated in five regions: West Java with 19 policies, West Sumatra with 10, East Java with nine, Central Java with six, and North Sumatra with six.

The commission cited as an example that the KUHP no longer imposes custodial sentences, arrests, or raids for morality violations. Yet several regions have recently continued to carry out arrests and raids.

According to her, there is potential for criminalisation in regional policies due to the use of multi-interpretive formulations.

“Behaviour that is suspicious, giving rise to a certain presumption. Displaying attitudes and conduct that may reasonably be suspected of intending to engage in prostitution. What kind of suspicious behaviour?” she said.

Komnas Perempuan also found that a number of regional regulations explicitly target women and groups with diverse gender identities for raids and public order operations.

“The targets of these regional policies, as we have recorded, fall into four categories: women who go out at night, female sex workers, women with diverse gender identities such as transgender individuals, and women who must work at night, such as nurses and market traders. These are the targets of the raids,” said Dahlia Madanih.