Why are Conservatives and Liberals Both Wrong About the Newly Reformed Criminal Code? [an Outsider Perspective]

Two years ago in the Philippines, the Anti-Terrorism Law was enacted to criminalize terrorism and other related offenses. But this so-called draconian law was only used by former President Duterte and now President Marcos Jr to crack down on activists and progressives. It seems that Indonesia, the most staunch anti-communist country in ASEAN, will be furthering the Red Scare tactic to incentivize the state over its critics. Having an anti-communist agenda (even without an existing Marxist-Leninist party) will forever be attractive particularly to the right-wingers. See how Suharto used this strategy to seize power in his time.

Both the conservatives and the liberals are wrong in handling the debate on the revision of the country's penal code. Here's why:

Fundamentalists think that embracing tradition is embedded in the nation's DNA but in reality this is impeding the progress of the nation. Conservatism has brought the "populist morality" in Indonesia to the point that even though there are no morality/sharia police around, society has been guilt tripping people on their personal activities. You can choose not to have sex even without the existence of harsh penalties, right? And I think it would be more gratifying for everyone's religious feelings if we opt not to do forbidden things not just because we will go to prison if we do it?

And why all of a sudden we now trust state institutions? The current justice system is not even rehabilitative but punitive.

On the other hand, the liberals are missing the narrowest target. It is the entire state apparatus who is using the anti-poor, anti-people criminal code as a weapon for power maximization. In place of pushing for more reforms, why not abolish the entire Dutch-oriented criminal laws and establish a new version that is suitable for 21st century Indonesian society that harbors a more fair and just legal code.

Also, both conservatives and liberals are barking up the wrong tree. Why not find common ground in making the ruling clique accountable? As we move towards a more transnational world, we must focus on more glaring issues that affect people's lives like the betterment of the socio-economic conditions of the Indonesian people, technology and artificial intelligence, lowering the price of goods and commodities and even looking to solve the current climate crisis. It seems that we are more passionate about dealing with what our neighbors do in their private bedrooms rather than finding solutions to how we can stop Jakarta's sinking into the sea.

We also fail to realize that harsher penalties will only put economically poor Muslims in prison. Let us stop this misery and instead think of laws that will benefit the people and not push for lousy policies that only create a bridge to put people into incarceration.