The New Criminal Code and the Continuation of the Culture of Ambiguity in Indonesia

• Author: Abdurrachman Satrio & Intan N. Cahyana
• Position: Trisakti University Faculty of Law & The Institute for Migrant Rights, Indonesia/Trisakti University Faculty of Law
• Pages: 439-445

e Indonesian Journal of International & Comparative Law

ISSN: 2338-7602; E-ISSN: 2338-770X

http://www.ijil.org

© 2022 e Institute for Migrant Rights Press

thE nEw Criminal CodE

and thE Continuation of

thE CulturE of amBiguitY

in indonEsia

Abdurrachman Satrio

Trisakti University Faculty of Law& e Institute for Migrant Rights,

Indonesia

Email: abdurrachman@trisakti.ac.id

Intan N. Cahyana

Trisakti University Faculty of Law

Email: intan.nc@trisakti.ac.id

While most commentators—especially from the West—consider Indo-

nesia’s new Criminal Code as a setback for democracy,1 a threat to civil

rights, or evidence of the growing threat of Islamic conservatism,2 a

more careful reading shows that many provisions in this law continue

to reect the culture of ambiguity that has characterized Indonesian

politics since its inception—that is a habit to make legal and political

decision in an ambiguously worded text, which allows the parties in-

volved in that decision to understand the meaning of the text dierent-

1 Sana Jerey & Eve Warburton, Indonesia’s new criminal code turns

representatives into rulers, N M (2022), https://www.newmandala.

org/representatives-into-rulers/.

2. Clara Ferreira Marques, Sex Isn’t the Only Problem With Indonesia’s New Penal

Code, T W P (Dec. 2, 2022), https://www.washingtonpost.

com/business/sex-isnt-the-only-problem-with-indonesias-new-penal-

code/2022/12/08/b4dd55b0-7733-11ed-a199-927b334b939f_story.html.