JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia began enforcing its newly ratified criminal code on Friday, replacing the Dutch-era code that governed the country for more than 80 years and marking a major shift in its legal landscape.
Since declaring independence in 1945, this Southeast Asian country has continued to operate under a colonial framework that has been widely criticised as outdated and inconsistent with Indonesian social values.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 country.
Indonesia's 345-page criminal code, known as KUHP, was adopted in 2022. At the time, then-US State Department spokesman Ned Price said the US was „closely monitoring the revised criminal code“ of its democratic partner. It criminalises sex outside marriage and reintroduces penalties for insulting the president and state institutions. It comes into force after a three-year transition period.
Departure from the colonial framework
The previously revised code was supposed to be approved in 2019, but then-President Joko Widodo called on lawmakers to postpone the vote amid growing public criticism that led to nationwide protests involving tens of thousands of people. Opponents said it contained articles that discriminated against minorities and that the legislative process lacked transparency. A parliamentary working group finalised the bill in November 2022, and lawmakers unanimously approved it a month later, which the government called a „historic step“.
The enforcement of the new criminal code marks „the end of the era of colonial criminal law and the beginning of a more humane, modern and just legal system rooted in Indonesian culture,“ said Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration and Correctional Institutions Yusril Ihza Mahendra. „This is a historic moment for the Indonesian people,“ Mahendra said in a statement on Friday. He said the old code, based on Dutch law, „is no longer relevant to the dynamics of modern Indonesian society.“.
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