Revision needed of 'repressive' articles

Revision needed of 'repressive' articles

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The planned revision of the Criminal Code (KUHP) should focus on
repressive articles and outdated laws, instead of criminalizing
private matters, experts said.

Director of the Center for Legal and Policy Studies of the
University of Indonesia Bivitri Susanti proposed the revocation
of repressive articles which deal mostly with defamation of state
officials, articles which have recently been used to charge the
press.

"The articles were introduced by the Dutch colonial government
to restrict any struggle for independence. In their country of
origin, the Netherlands, those articles have been revoked,"
Bivitri told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

She was referring to Articles 134 and 137 on defamation of the
president and vice president, Article 160 on inciting hatred
against the authorities and Articles 310 to 321 on libel.

Under the libel article, the South Jakarta District Court
sentenced Rakyat Merdeka daily chief editor Karim Paputungan last
month to five months in prison with 10 months probation for
printing a caricature deemed insulting to House of
Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung.

The daily's executive editor Supratman is currently facing a
one year prison sentence on charges of defaming President
Megawati Soekarnoputri in several articles published by the
daily.

Invoking libel articles, prosecutors also brought Tempo news
magazine chief editor Bambang Harymurti and two journalists to
court for defaming businessman Tomy Winata and allegedly
circulating lies in the magazine's coverage of the fire in Tanah
Abang market in Central Jakarta in February of this year.

Besides the repressive articles, Bivitri said the Criminal
Code failed to criminalize domestic violence of which women and
children are the victims.

She said many cases of domestic violence were swept under the
carpet, settled out of court or ended up with the courts giving
lenient sentences as the cases were considered "family matters".

Furthermore, she said many articles in the code carried
maximum sentences that are "too light", making them too weak to
be a deterrent. Citing an example, she said the code stipulates
that premeditated murder carries a maximum sentence of 20 years,
while in many Western countries convicted murderers receive a
sentence of up to 50 years.

The government faces growing criticism for drafting a revision
to the Criminal Code which criminalizes black magic and private
matters related to sex, including oral sex, cohabitation,
masturbation and sodomy.

The critics also lashed out at the government for admitting
that the revision was a move to accommodate the interests of
certain Muslim groups who have been demanding the implementation
of sharia.

Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra, who
sponsored the revision, chairs the Crescent Star Party (PBB)
which has long fought for the adoption of sharia.

Another legal expert from the University of Indonesia, Topo
Santoso, agreed with Bivitri, saying the revocation of the
repressive articles was needed because Indonesia had enacted
separate laws that practically annulled the articles.

"Articles dealing with defamation and general elections in the
code, for example, should be revoked," Topo told the Post.

He said the code's articles in relation to the media were no
longer needed due to the presence of Law No. 40/1999 on the
media. Likewise articles on general elections were obsolete after
the enforcement of Law No. 12/2003 on general elections.

Apart from the repressive articles and lenient punishment for
certain crimes, basic principles in the code have their origin in
the criminal code applied by the Dutch colonial government dating
back to 1915.

"The principles are no longer relevant to the current era, so
the review should be made along these lines," Topo said.