Fersianus Waku, Jakarta – Dozens of University of Indonesia (UI) students and activists from the Civil Society Coalition for the Reform of the Criminal Procedural Code held a demonstration rejecting the Draft Law on the Criminal Procedure Code (RUU KUHAP) at the Pancasila Gate entrance to the House of Representatives (DPR) building in Senayan, Jakarta, on Tuesday July 22.
There have been frequent protests against the RUU KUHAP because it is considered problematic both in terms of substance and the discussion process.
In terms of substance, several articles are considered problematic, such as reducing the rights of suspects and defendants through prohibitions on advocates giving opinions outside trials, weakening the function of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) by requiring wiretaps to obtain permission from a court and investigators only being allowed look for criminal events, and an overlapping of authority between the police and prosecutors, such as prosecutors being able to investigate and terminate a case.
In terms of the legislation process the discussions were too fast with 1,676 Problem Inventory List (DIM) items being completed in just two days, there was minimal public participation and civil society groups believe the process has been closed, and not transparent and there has been difficulties accessing documents because the DPR website has been down so the draft of the RUU KUHAP has not been available triggering public protests.
The protesters opposing the RUU KUHAP arrived at the Pancasila Gate at around 2.10 pm wearing UI alma mater jackets while representatives from the Civil Society Coalition wore black T-shirts.
In a speech, a student representative stated that they don't reject the revisions to the KUHAP. But they believe that the RUU KUHAP which is currently being discussed by the DPR's Commission III and the government is in fact ridden with articles that open the way for the criminalisation of citizens.
"What they want is to facilitate law enforcement officials criminalising citizens", said the speaker from on top of a command vehicle.
The speaker said that they believe that the RUU KUHAP tends to increase the powers of law enforcement officials and not protect the rights of citizens when they are faced with a legal process. Yet according to the speaker, the formulation of the RUU KUHAP should start out from the experiences of citizens who have been victims of criminalisation.
"So that the position of citizens and law enforcement are equal in the criminal justice system", they asserted.
In addition to this, other speakers also questioned the RUU KUHAP problem inventory list (DIM) which was discussed in just two days.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Tolak RUU KUHAP, Mahasiswa UI hingga Koalisi Sipil Gelar Demo di Gedung DPR Jakarta".]
