REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Constitutional law expert at Parahyangan University Asep Warlan Yusuf assessed it is good to insert the formulation of article on the insults to the president and vice president into revision of Criminal Code (KUHP). The article needed to protect state's symbol. However, there must be clear boundaries in the article, which define criticizm and insult.

"I think insulting the president and vice president should be general crime," said Asep on Wednesday (Feb 7).

He asked the arrangement of boundaries between criticism and insult to be done carefully. The articles formulation currently still has multiple interpretations and unclear boundaries.

"But we should also be cautious with the general crime. When we move from a critic to an insult. It must be clarified and give the limit," Asep added.

Asep said in the discussion about the articles must also clearly regulate the substance and boundaries between criticism and insults, whether the substance of criticism related to his personality, related to the President of the Republic of Indonesia as a symbol of the state, or related to the performance of the president. "To distinguish criticism and insults, we must consider the substance," he remarked.

If it was targeted to the president's personal, then it can be prosecuted with victim's report to the police. Whereas, if the substace of insults is the president as the symbol of the state, so the act can be punished through the articles directly, without posing a complaint.

"If we insult president such as by saying that he is the foreign henchman or he becomes someone's accomplice. It has nothing to do with his personal. The subject is the president as state symbol. Therefore, the articles can be apllied to the case," said Asep.

Meanwhile, if the criticsm was related to the government's performance, it should be considered as a form of democracy. It can not be criminalized.

Earlier, members of the House of Representatives (DPR) seemed to turned back to New Order era by reinstating the controversial articles penalizing citizens for insulting the head of state in the Criminal Code (KUHP). The draft bill was set to be passed into law in the coming weeks.

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