JakartaPost-Dec 6, 2022
Lawmakers are pressing ahead with plans to pass a revised Criminal Code on Tuesday that would dilute antigraft rules and civil liberties, insisting that they have taken public opinion into account despite civil society protests to the contrary. House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad announced on Monday that the passage of the Criminal Code bill was scheduled for the following day. Some lawmakers insisted that they had accommodated public opinion, claiming provisions widely deemed draconian had been watered down, such as ones criminalizing insulting a sitting president and outlawing cohabitation before marriage, as well articles governing the death penalty. Nonetheless, the bill retains a number of contentious articles. A Commission III member, Supriansa of the Golkar Party, said members of the public had had the chance to voice their opinions during the bill’s deliberation in Commission III, which had finished about two weeks prior. The sudden revelation of plans to pass the bill on Tuesday had activists worried. Lawmakers and the executive had been trying to fast-track the deliberation of the bill this year and had never clearly defined when they would pass the bill, but said that it would be done sometime before the House went into recess this month. Activists belonging to a coalition of some 40 civil society groups that have been keeping tabs on the bill, as well as students, staged a rally in front of the House complex in Jakarta on Monday. Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/paper/2022/12/06/lawmakers-press-ahead-with-criminal-code-revisions-despite-protests.html
