The Indonesian Criminal Code ( nl, Wetboek van Strafrecht, WvS), commonly known in

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...

as ''Kitab Undang-Undang Hukum Pidana'' (, derived from Dutch), abbreviated as KUH Pidana or KUHP), were laws and regulations that form the basis of

criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law i ...

in Indonesia. By deviating as necessary from Presidential Regulation dated 10 October 1945 No. 2, it stipulated that the criminal law regulations that are in effect are the Dutch criminal law regulations that existed on 8 March 1942. Currently, the Republic of Indonesia has its own Criminal Code.https://rasindogroup.com/pengesahan-ruu-kuhp-menjadi-undang-undang/

History

The Criminal Code, also known in Indonesian as KUHP or in Dutch as Wetboek van Strafrecht, are laws and regulations that regulate criminal acts in Indonesia. The Criminal Code that is currently in force is the Criminal Code which originates from Dutch colonial law, namely ''Wetboek van Strafrecht voor Nederlands-Indië''. The ratification was carried out through the ''Staatsblad'' of 1915 number 732 and came into effect on 1 January 1918. After Indonesian independence from the Dutch in 1945, the Criminal Code is retained and are enforced by an alignment of conditions in the form of revocation of articles that were no longer relevant. This is based on the Transitional Provisions of Article II of the 1945 Constitution, which states that: "All existing state bodies and regulations are immediately enforced as long as new ones have not been enacted according to this Constitution." It was these provisions that later became the legal basis for the enforcement of all statutory regulations during the colonial period to the independence period. To reaffirm the enforcement of criminal law during those colonial period, on 26 February 1946, the government then issued Law Number 1 of 1946 concerning Criminal Law Regulations. This law was then used as the legal basis for changing "Wetboek van Strafrecht voor Netherlands Indie" to "Wetboek van Strafrecht" (WvS), which became known as the Indonesian Criminal Code. Nevertheless, in Article XVII of the act, there is also a provision which states that: "This law shall take effect for the islands of Java and Madura on the day it is announced and for other regions on the day to be determined by the President." Thus, the application of ''Wetboek van Strafrecht voor Netherlands Indie'' to ''Wetboek van Strafrecht'' is only limited to the regions of Java and Madura. The enactment of the Criminal Code throughout the territory of the Republic of Indonesia was only carried out on 20 September 1958, with the promulgation of Law no. 73 of 1958 declaring the Applicability of Law Number 1 of 1946 of the Republic of Indonesia in regards to Criminal Law Regulations for the Entire Territory of the Republic of Indonesia, and thus amending the Criminal Code. As stated in Article 1 of Law no. 7 of 1958 which reads: "Law No. 1 of 1946 of the Republic of Indonesia concerning Criminal Law Regulations declared applicable to the entire territory of the Republic of Indonesia. However, from Tuesday, December 06, 2022, the latest Criminal Code Bill was passed in a plenary meeting of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia so that the Dutch Criminal Code which has been in effect since January 1, 1918 is no longer enforced in the Unitary State of the Republik of Indonesia.

Books and Chapters

The Indonesian Criminal Code are compiled into 3 (three) books, including: # Book I: General Circumstances (Article 1 to Article 103) ## Chapter I – General Circumstances ## Chapter II – Criminal ## Chapter III – Things that Abolish, Reduce or Aggravate Crime ## Chapter IV – Trials ## Chapter V – Involvement in Crime ## Chapter VI – Combined Criminal Acts ## Chapter VII – Filing and Withdrawing Complaints in Cases of Crimes Prosecuted for Complaints Only ## Chapter VIII – Abolishment of the Authority to Prosecute and Execute Criminals ## Chapter IX – Definition of Several Terms used in the Code ## Closing # Book II: Crimes (Article 104 to Article 488) ## Chapter I – Crimes against State Security ## Chapter II – Crimes against the Dignity of the President and Vice President ## Chapter III – Crimes against Friendly Countries and Heads of Friendly Countries and their Representatives ## Chapter IV – Crime against Performing Duties and Rights of the State ## Chapter V – Crimes against Public Order ## Chapter VI – Combat Fighting ## Chapter VII – Crimes that endanger Public Security for Persons or Goods ## Chapter VIII – Crimes against General Authority ## Chapter IX – False Oaths and False Statements ## Chapter X – Counterfeiting of Currency and Banknotes ## Chapter XI – Counterfeiting of Stamps and Brands ## Chapter XII – Letter Forgery ## Chapter XIII – Crimes against Origin and Marriage ## Chapter XIV – Crimes against Decency ## Chapter XV – Leaving Ones who need Help ## Chapter XVI – Humiliation ## Chapter XVII – Confiding Ones Secrets ## Chapter XVIII – Crime against the Freedom of the People ## Chapter XIX – Crimes against Life ## Chapter XX – Persecution ## Chapter XXI – Causing Death or Injury through Negligence ## Chapter XXII – Theft ## Chapter XXIII – Blackmail and Threats ## Chapter XXIV – Embezzlement ## Chapter XXV – Underhanded Deeds ## Chapter XXVI – Detriment to Debtors or People who have Rights ## Chapter XXVII – Destroying or Damaging Things ## Chapter XXVIII – Crimes of Office ## Chapter XXIX – Cruise Crimes ## Chapter XXIX A – Aviation Crimes and Crimes against Aviation Facilities/Infrastructure (Law No. 4 of 1976) ## Chapter XXX – Publishing and Printing Storage ## Chapter XXXI – The Repetition of Crimes relating to Various Chapters # Book III: Offenses (Article 489 to Article 569) ## Chapter I – Concerning Public Security Violations For Persons or Goods and Health ## Chapter II – Breach of Public Order ## Chapter III – Offenses against Common Rulers ## Chapter IV – Offenses concerning Origin and Marriage ## Chapter V – Offenses against People who need Help ## Chapter VI – Offenses of Decency ## Chapter VII – Offenses concerning Land, Plants, and Yards ## Chapter VIII – Violation of Office ## Chapter IX – Shipping Violations

Revision

Article of witchcraft

Article 293 of the Draft Criminal Code reads: Criminal law expert Barda Nawawi Arief, who took part in drafting the policy, said that this article is an extension of Article 162 of the Criminal Code which regulates the prohibition of assisting in criminal acts, which reads "Anyone who publicly orally or in writing offers to provide information, opportunity, or means to commit a criminal act, shall be punished with imprisonment for a maximum of 9 months or a fine of up to Rp. 400,500." Although political figure Eva Sundari of the

PDI-P The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle ( id, Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan, PDI-P) is an Indonesian political party, and the party of the current President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo. The PDI-P was founded and is currently led by Me ...

party thinks that the law will find it difficult to prove someone has the power of witchcraft, so much so that this article is prone to

criminalization Criminalization or criminalisation, in criminology, is "the process by which behaviors and individuals are transformed into crime and criminals". Previously legal acts may be transformed into crimes by legislation or judicial decision. However, ...

, criminal law expert from the

University of Indonesia The University of Indonesia ( id, Universitas Indonesia, abbreviated as UI) is a public university in Depok, West Java and Salemba, Jakarta, Indonesia. It is one of the oldest tertiary-level educational institutions in Indonesia (known as the Dut ...

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, says that the proof does not require the pleader to bring a supernatural experts or priest, but to only bring witnesses who hear that someone claims to be capable of practicing witchcraft. The pros and cons of the witchcraft act have appeared since the 1990s. Because of this, to deepened the understanding of the article on witchcraft, the

People's Representative Council The People's Representative Council of the Republic of Indonesia ( id, Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Republik Indonesia, DPR-RI), also known as the House of Representatives, is one of two elected chambers of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), ...

(DPR) conducted a comparative study to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, the United Kingdom, France, and Russia.

Withdrawal

On 6 December 2022, the

voted to approve a new criminal code for Indonesia on the basis of

decolonization Decolonization or decolonisation is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. Some scholars of decolonization focus especially on separatism, in ...

, which repeals the old criminal code and its amendments. Initially, the new code was supposed to pass in 2019, yet amid a mass street demonstration across the country, the process was ultimately halted as the Indonesian President

Joko Widodo Joko Widodo (; born 21 June 1961), popularly known as Jokowi, is an Indonesian politician and businessman who is the 7th and current president of Indonesia. Elected in July 2014, he was the first Indonesian president not to come from an elite ...

had asked Parliament to revise problematic clauses. The protest comes as the new criminal code introduced some controversial new laws, such as banning unmarried couple to cohabit; banning the defamation of the president, government ministers and agencies; banning of demonstration without notice; the witchcraft act (article 252); the privacy act (article 412), etc. Some human right experts has even called it: "a step backward in Indonesian democracy". The new penal code contains 624 articles, which the government claimed it had spent the past years gathering feedback from stakeholders, experts and the public following a nationwide protest against the code in 2019. The new code, which applies to Indonesians and foreigners alike, will not take immediate effect, but instead, three years after the bill is enacted into law, in which opponents can file requests for judicial review of the code to the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...

References