It is the essence of democracy in the law enforcement.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) urged his ranks to intensify open discussions on various highlighted issues in the Criminal Code Bill (RUU KUHP) to provide a more lucid understanding to the people and to seek their opinions.

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Mahfud MD stated here on Tuesday that the president conveyed the directive while chairing an internal meeting concerning the progress in the discussion of the RUU KUHP at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta.

"Why (should the public be involved)? (It is) because law reflects the people's lives. Thus, any law that will be enforced must be understood and approved by the community. It is the essence of democracy in the law enforcement (process)," the coordinating minister remarked.

Mahfud MD noted that currently, the RUU KUHP had almost been completed, as it had reached the final stages of discussion.

"Why is it said to be almost completed? (It is) because the RUU KUHP includes more than 700 articles, which if broken down into detail, can lead to thousands of issues. However, now, (only) several (debated) matters remain. Some 14 issues need to be cleared," he stated.

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The 14 subjects include the living law; death penalty; offending the dignity of the president and vice president; crimes for possessing supernatural powers; unlicensed doctor and dentist practice; poultry and cattle that damage the sown seeds in an agricultural area; and contempt of court.

The concerned issues also comprised blasphemy; animal abuse; homelessness; abortion; rape; adultery and cohabitation; as well as the issue of fraudulent advocates that have the possibility of being biased to a certain law profession, which had been proposed to be removed.

Thus, to increase the public's understanding of the issues, Mahfud stated that the government will hold more open and proactive discussions through two methods.

"The first (method) is to continue to discuss (the issues) with the DPR (House of Representatives) to resolve them. Meanwhile, the second method is to conduct (further) dissemination (of information) and discussions with the community," he noted.

He stated that the open public discussions will be facilitated by the Communication and Information Ministry, while the discussion material will be prepared by the Law and Human Rights Ministry.

The step also aimed to maintain the government and constitutional integrity, he added.

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Translator: Gilang Galiartha, Uyu Liman
Editor: Suharto
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