STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT. Foreign Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Teuku Faizasyah said that the ministry summoned the U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia Sung Y. Kim and the U.N. representatives to Jakarta. The ministry asked the two to confirm their comments in various media outlets about the new Criminal Code ratification. Foreign representatives in Indonesia, according to Faizasyah, should not jump to conclusions and issue statements before gathering more information about the Indonesian government’s political policies.
The government has confirmed for paying some social media influencers to campaign supports for the Criminal Code Bill (RUU KUHP). The influencers are asked to promote “good things” about the bill, said the Director General of Public Communication with the Ministry of Communication and Informatics Usman Kansong.
“We use all available media to socialize the bill, that includes some influencers,” he told detix reporter. According to him, the campaign will continue even after the bill passed into a law. The campaign includes explaining the articles, which are considered to be “problematic.” With the assistance from the Siberkreasi agency, the ministry recruits these influencers.
Seeking to rebut emerging criticism that the revised Criminal Code (KUHP) had been insufficiently prepared to reflect the people’s aspirations, Deputy Law and Human Rights Minister Edward O.S. Hiariej on Monday claimed that the penal code had achieved a “win-win” solution for bridging differences between the nation’s religious conservatives and liberals.
Not only had the KUHP seized Indonesia’s primary goal of decolonizing its laws, Edward said, it had also found a legislative middle path to reconcile the nation’s vast cultural differences. Concerns over the narrowing of personal autonomy were therefore unfounded, he asserted, especially with regard to foreign investors and tourists thinking twice before paying the country a visit.
“The KUHP has been drafted with meticulous attention. At the core of the deliberations was striking a balance between the state’s and the people’s interests, all within the context of a multiethnic, multi-religious, and multicultural society,” he said at a Foreign Ministry press conference.
The governor also criticized what he said were “hoax” reports of travelers canceling flights and hotel bookings and cautioned against “misleading statements that would stir up the situation,” saying that data from travel agents and airlines indicates that the number of visitors is set to increase next year.
Meanwhile, ex Islamic Defender Front activist said the government does not hear “noisy opinion against the new criminal code” especially related to the forbidden of cohabitation and free sex in Indonesia because if the protester related to this issue is a true worship and lovely their religious norms and values automatically they will support the new criminal code. “Because every religions in the world are not teach their community making free sex or cohabitation,” he said further.
