The postponement of the passing of the Penal Code Bill / Rancangan KUHP (RKUHP) is a strategy to ensure that the discussion on the RKUHP is carried out inclusively. The National Alliance for Penal Code Reform (The National Alliance) which consists of 40 civil society organizations must take this role to continue what has been done. Previously, the national alliance has succeeded in leading the RKUHP advocacy with remarkable achievements. However, the RKUHP still contains problematic formulations that lead to overcriminalisation and discrimination.

One major evaluation point of RKUHP is the discussion around the inclusion of the entire process. RKUHP was dominated by ‘masculine’ criminal law experts with no other perspective but criminal law. This project ensures that the upcoming discussion of RKUHP is inclusive by more participation from civil societies.

The Criminal Code Bill / Rancangan KUHP (RKUHP) was proposed by the National Law Development Agency (BPHN), and was discussed by the House of Representatives Commission 3 (DPR) since 2015, with input from the Ministry of Law and Human Rights and experts hired by the government. It was supposed to be a reform bill, but it turned out to be a difficult bill with numerous flaws. 

Many articles in the draft posed a threat to civil liberty, such as the criminalization of all forms of extramarital sex. In many countries such legislation has been shown to have negative consequences for sexual minorities and marginalized groups, such as women who have been accused of rape but have been unable to prove it, and children who have had sex outside of marriage and are sentenced to extramarital sex criminalization. RKUHP also criminalized all forms of abortion, with no exceptions for survivors of rape. It additionally criminalized homosexuality by referring to same-sex acts as obscene and as a crime.   

The formulation on criminal responsibility was especially problematic since it contradicted the discourse on mental illness and criminal liability. Article 2 RKUHP on living law poses a threat to indigenous groups and ethnic minorities since it sought to take and absorb the power for dispute settlement based on customary practice and vest it on local government.  It also empowered local governments to create their own “local penal code,” which could lead to discrimination in local policy, like in Aceh, Padang, and Depok, which have discriminatory provincial rules. 

Advocating for a new criminal code bill: The Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR) is an organization with a strong focus on policy-related advocacy and is committed to supporting measures aimed at realizing the reformation of the law and criminal justice system towards a democratic direction.  This is one of the crucial issues Indonesia faces during the current transitional era. ICJR was formed with the exclusive mission to support collective actions in honouring the Rule of Law and ensuring a criminal justice system with strong guarantees of human rights protection. In relation to the advocacy on the Criminal Code Bill (RKUHP), in 2015, ICJR was appointed as the coordinator of the National Alliance for Criminal Code Reform, an alliance consisting of more than 40 civil society organisations, both at the national and local level, to support the advocacy for the new bill.  Members of the national alliance came from a variety of backgrounds and dealt with different issues, including those representing vulnerable groups such as ethnic and religious minorities, and the LGBTIQ community. This was done to ensure that the perspectives of such groups are heard in the debate around the penal code bill. 

The alliance successfully prepared a List of Problems (DIM) which arose from the bill. Later, 90% of the list was adopted by political parties as a list of problems to be discussed throughout the deliberation period in the house since 2015. The postponement of the Criminal Code Bill (RKUHP) was a strategic move to ensure that it could be discussed in an open and inclusive manner.  

The National Consultation on the Reformation of the Criminal Code 2021, which ICJR organised together with four other institutions, was attended by 26 panellists/academics and a total of 1,087 participants. The RKUHP debates in the cabinet and house of representatives were successfully monitored by the ICJR. In this ICJR coordinated with the national alliance and even expanded the collaboration with Voice grantees partners under the IndonesiaInklusi platform. 

 “Being connected with Indonesia Inklusi through Linking and Learning has broadened our horizons in terms of reaching out to civil society organizations that are directly affected by the Criminal Code. Our organization and the national alliance realized the necessity of mainstreaming inclusivity in our methods and approaches, which included providing sign-language translation in all aspects of our advocacy (hearings, disseminating proceedings, and discussions).” — Maidina, National Alliance of the Indonesian Criminal Code Program Coordinator. 

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in December 2021 the criminal code bill was in the early stages of lobbying yet the government and DPR insisted on passing the law by end of that year.  This move made 2021 a critical moment to observe how the bill would be handled.  There were fears that certain provisions of the law relating to the protection of vulnerable groups and civil society had been altered or reformed to take away that protection however, that remains to be seen.  The following year would be crucial in assessing how the government handled these matters because the state refused to publish the draft law.       

Significant Change: The intervention brought about some significant change. Through the coordination meeting activities, ICJR indirectly brought together rightsholders who were previously unaffected by the RKUHP issue and made them aware of and attached to the draft criminal code issue.  ICJR also increased community awareness of the draft criminal code’s passage and as a result of the National Consultation event, lecturers with potential support for the advocacy of criminal code change were identified and tasked to assist in spreading the messages of the advocacy throughout their city.  

List of activities for the project and document of the process: 

1. Monitoring of RKUHP discussion (reported on: reformasikuhp.org, https://icjr.or.id/?s=rkuhp), we have also formed Internal media tracking report (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1hv0aT4nev_jquAZd14fC7-Ggep7z55lH?usp=sharing)
2. Research and writing process of Updated Brief on development of the discussion of RKUHP (still on progress available here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1hv0aT4nev_jquAZd14fC7-Ggep7z55lH?usp=sharing) 
3. Online Coordination meetings of the national alliance and Voice Grantees – IndonesiaInklusi: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1hv0aT4nev_jquAZd14fC7-Ggep7z55lH?usp=sharing. 47 people from 20 organizations were attended
4. Vice minister of law and human rights engage with national alliance and 4 campuses who held the national consultation https://unpar.ac.id/wakil-menteri-hukum-dan-ham-terima-prosiding-pembaruan-kuhp-2021-empat-kampus-hukum/ , https://www.kompas.id/baca/polhuk/2021/06/22/draf-terbaru-rkuhp-dibuka-juli-masyarakat-perlu-kawal-proses-carry-over