Indonesia yesterday began enforcing its newly ratified penal code, replacing a Dutch-era criminal law that had governed the country for more than 80 years and marking a major shift in its legal landscape.
Since proclaiming independence in 1945, the Southeast Asian country had continued to operate under a colonial framework widely criticized as outdated and misaligned with Indonesia’s social values. Efforts to revise the code stalled for decades as lawmakers debated how to balance human rights, religious norms and local traditions in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation.
The 345-page Indonesian Penal Code, known as the KUHP, was passed in 2022. It criminalizes sex outside marriage, which applies to citizens and foreign visitors, and reintroduces penalties for insulting the president and state institutions. It comes into force following a three-year transition period.
Photo: Reuters
Indonesian Deputy Minister of Law Edward Hiariej has defended the reforms as a modernization effort that shifts Indonesia’s criminal justice paradigm toward corrective, restorative and rehabilitative justice.
“The new criminal code prioritizes repairing harm and social reintegration, rather than relying solely on punishment,” Hiariej said during a briefing on the new penal code on Thursday.
Indonesia is also preparing a new criminal procedural law aimed at addressing procedural inefficiencies and improving human rights protections.
Together, the reforms represent a comprehensive overhaul of the justice system, Hiariej said.
Under the amended code, sex outside marriage is punishable by up to one year in prison, while cohabitation carries a six-month sentence. However, adultery cases can only proceed following a complaint by a spouse, parents or children — a safeguard the government says prevents arbitrary enforcement, including against tourists.
Rights groups remain skeptical.
The Human Rights Watch warned that the morality-based provisions could lead to invasions of privacy and selective enforcement.
The code also restores a ban on insulting a sitting president or vice president, state institutions and the national ideology. Cases must be reported by the president and carry penalties of up to three years in prison for “attacking the honor or dignity” of state leaders.
Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid described the KUHP as “a significant blow” to civil liberties.
“This overreaching criminal code will entrench obstacles to freedom of speech while criminalizing legitimate and peaceful dissent,” Hamid said, warning it could open the door to abuse of power.
The new code also expands an existing blasphemy law, maintaining prison sentences of up to five years for deviations from the core teachings of Indonesia’s six officially recognized religions. It preserves penalties of up to 10 years for associating with Marxist-Leninist organizations and four years for spreading communist ideology.
Some advocates welcomed lawmakers’ decision to drop a proposed article that would have criminalized gay sex, following opposition from civil society groups. The move was hailed as a rare positive outcome for Indonesia’s LGBTQ community.
The revised code retains the death penalty, despite calls from rights groups to abolish capital punishment. However, it introduces a 10-year probationary period, after which death sentences may be commuted to life imprisonment or 20 years if the convict demonstrates good behavior.
It also maintains a ban on abortion while formalizing existing exceptions for life-threatening medical conditions and pregnancies resulting from rape, provided the fetus is less than 12 weeks old.
Legal experts said the KUHP reflects a fundamental change in how punishment is applied.
Hiariej said that public opinion still often favors harsh penalties, a mindset he described as rooted in outdated notions of retribution.
“This is a legacy of the law of retaliation,” he said, contrasting it with modern systems that emphasize harm repair and reintegration.
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