Mahfud MD Speaks about Draft Penal Code Law or RKUHP

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Mahfud MD on Monday said the government would try its best to formulate the draft Penal Code Law (RKUHP) in a “democratic fashion” that heeded the views of broad groups of people.

Citing Antaranews, Mahfud MD elaborated the government’s views during a public discussion on the RKUHP in Jakarta on June 14. “This means that everyone’s [views] will be heard.”

He maintained it was impossible for the government to wait for 270 million Indonesians to collectively agree on the aspects within the draft law, and that it would revert to decision making that he claimed would be "correct and constitutional."

The former Constitutional Court (MK) chief justice is insistent that formulating the RKUHP would be near impossible if the government had to wait for a nationwide discussion. “It could be agreed today but tomorrow there will be those who do not, when will that cycle end?”

The current Penal Code Law has been applied since January 1, 1918, and during its journey the law continues to be discussed for a multitude of changes that finally became Law (UU) No.1/1946.

Debates related to improving the KUHP has always involved issues such as the plurality of the Indonesin society, contradictions between universalism and particularism, and the extensive debates about maintaining the original version of the penal code law. 

Read: Minister Defends Defamation against President Draft Law

ANTARA