Legal Literacy - This article discusses the history of development criminal law in Indonesia from the Dutch colonial era to the independence era. I wonder what the history and development are like? Let's look at the explanation below.
History and Development of Criminal Law in Indonesia
Criminal law is a field of law that regulates the relationship between citizens and the state regarding prohibited actions. Basically, Indonesia has known criminal law long before independence. The history and development of criminal law in Indonesia is as follows.
Dutch Colonial Era
Before the Dutch colonized Indonesia, indigenous people scattered throughout Indonesia had their own customary rules, including customary criminal law in the form of unwritten law. Written criminal law began with the arrival of the Dutch in 1596.
The Dutch imposed maritime law, which was a combination of ancient Dutch law and principles of Roman law. In 1642, the Dutch replaced maritime law with Bataviasche Statuten or the Statutes of Batavia, which recognized several types of punishments, including imprisonment, forced labor, and flogging with chains.
In addition, to strengthen its influence, the Dutch also interfered in the customary legal system, namely by carrying out codification:
- Chinese customary law by the VOC Center which applied to Chinese people in Batavia and its surroundings in 1761.
- Pepakem Cirebon which applied to native people in Cirebon and its surroundings in 1757.
- Kitab Hukum Mogharraer (a collection of Islamic criminal law) for native people in Semarang in 1750.
In principle, the Dutch wanted to create their own criminal law and have it implemented in Indonesia, but were instead colonized by France, so what applied was the Code Penal of France in the period 1811-1813. After gaining independence, in 1881 the Dutch created the Criminal Code and it came into effect in 1886 under the name Nedherlands Wetboek van Strafrecht.
Based on the principle of concordance, the Dutch Criminal Code was applied in the Dutch East Indies with the following division:
- Wetboek van Strafrecht voor Europeanen for Europeans and stipulated through Koninlijke Besluit (Royal Decree) on February 10, 1866. This book contains crimes.
- Wetboek van Strafrecht voor Nedherlands Indie for residents of the Dutch East Indies and Foreign Orientals stipulated through Ordonantie (equivalent to a law) on May 6, 1872. This book contains crimes.
- Algemeene Politie Strafreglement for Europeans and stipulated through Ordonantie which contains violations.
- Algemeene Politie Strafreglement for residents of the Dutch East Indies and Foreign Orientals stipulated through Ordonantie which contains violations.
The existence of dualism in criminal law encouraged the Dutch Minister of Justice to unify the law by merging four books into one under the name Wetboek van Strafrecht voor Nedherlands Indie (hereinafter referred to as “WvS NIâ€) through Koninlijke Besluit October 15, 1915 (Staatsblad 1915 Number 732) and applies to all groups of residents in the Dutch East Indies. WvS NI came into effect in 1918.
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