Legislator Urges Detailed Regulation of Community Service to Prevent Interpretation Differences
Jakarta — A member of Commission XIII of the DPR RI, Rapidin Simbolon, is pushing for discussion to detail regulations on community service in the new Indonesian Criminal Code (KUHP) to prevent discrepancies in interpretation when implementing these norms.
Rapidin, as stated in Jakarta on Friday, believes the matter concerning community service requires deeper technical discussion involving input from various parties, including the correctional institution (lapas) sector.
In-depth discussion is deemed important because, according to the legislator overseeing correctional affairs, there are currently differences in interpretation among law enforcement agencies regarding the application of community service regulations.
“We are highlighting the issue of community service for offenders in this new KUHP. This must be discussed in detail by gathering input from correctional institutions throughout Indonesia because interpretations remain varied. Currently, there are already different perspectives between the Attorney General’s Office and the Supreme Court,” he said.
He emphasised that synchronisation between agencies is crucial, given that correctional institutions represent the cutting edge of implementation. Without clear instructions and division of labour, field implementation is feared to face obstacles.
“We must prevent certain interests from interfering so that objectivity in building a system truly focused on rehabilitation can be realised,” said Rapidin.
Earlier, the Minister of Immigration and Corrections (Imipas) Agus Andrianto stated that his ministry has provided 2,460 locations for cleaning activities for offenders sentenced to community service.
Agus, during a meeting with Commission XIII DPR at parliament complex, Senayan, Jakarta, on Tuesday (3 February), stated that the effort to provide locations was undertaken to ensure implementation of the new KUHP runs maximally in society.
In his presentation to legislators overseeing human rights and immigration and corrections, Agus said his ministry has provided 2,460 locations ranging from schools, government offices, places of worship, urban parks, orphanages, nursing homes, and Islamic boarding schools.
“As an initial form of preparedness for community service implementation, 1,174 cooperation agreements have been prepared with various cross-sectoral partners. Cooperation agreements between correctional bodies (bapas) and social penalty locations,” he stated.
“When judges impose community service sentences, they must specify in their ruling how many hours per day. Then, how many days per week the defendant must perform community service and where the community service location will be,” he said at the Supreme Court building, Jakarta, on Tuesday (30 December 2025).
According to Prim, this community service mechanism has been coordinated with the Attorney General’s Office.
After discussing with the Deputy Attorney General for General Offences, a request emerged for judges to only specify the duration of the sentence in their ruling. “The location matter can be adjusted by them (prosecutors) according to local conditions,” he added.
However, Prim stated that this cannot be decided unilaterally. “We are discussing this with our team,” he said.