Law on Sexual Violence Crimes

The urge of formulation law to eliminate sexual violence had been discussed since 2012 by National Commission for Eradication of Violence against Women (Komisi Nasional Anti Kekerasan terhadap Perempuan, Komnas Perempuan). However, the plan finally was realized in 2014 after Joko Widodo came into presidency after the Komnas Perempuan reported the need for the formulation to him.[3]

The drafters and supporters of this bill are the Komnas Perempuan and the Service Provider Forum (Forum Pengada Layanan, FPL).[4][5][6] and they began to work in 2014.[3] The Chairperson of Komnas Perempuan at that time, Azriana, said on September 7, 2015 that there were at least 15 kinds of sexual violence experienced by women in Indonesia, namely acts of rape, intimidation of sexual nuances (including rape threats or attempts), sexual harassment, sexual exploitation, forced marriage, forced pregnancy, forced abortion, forced contraception/sterilization, sexual torture, sexual punishment, and sexual control, including discriminatory rules based on morality and religion. 13 of them have not been regulated by law.[7]

This bill was proposed on January 26, 2016.[8] Komnas Perempuan submitted the academic text of the PKS bill to the Indonesian People's Representative Council (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat, DPR) on May 13, 2016.[9] The bill was included in the 2016 Priority Prolegnas (Program Legislasi Nasional, National Legislation Program) on June 6, 2016.[10] This bill was withdrawn from the 2020 Priority Prolegnas on July 2, 2020. This withdrawal was submitted by Commission VIII. Deputy Chairperson of Commission VIII Marwan Dasopang said it was difficult to discuss the bill at this time because of the clash on the definition of sexual violence and the rules of punishment.[11] According to a member of Commission VIII from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) faction Diah Pitaloka, the decision to remove this bill from the Prolegnas was not a statement from Commission VIII, as it was Marwan Dasopang's personal statement. According to Diah, despite being withdrawn from the 2020 Prolegnas, the PKS Bill will enter the 2021 Prolegnas which will be discussed by the Legislation Body of the People's Representative Council (Badan Legislasi Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat, Baleg).[12] The bill subsequently made its way back to People's Representative Council discussion on January 2021.[3]

The UU TPKS does not only regulate procedural law and criminal sanctions regarding sexual violence, but also regulates benefits for victims of sexual violence. In its bill form, according to the Director of the Legal Aid Institute (Lembaga Bantuan Hukum, LBH) APIK, Veny Octarini Siregar, the RUU PKS covers everything from prevention, fulfillment of victims' rights, recovery of victims to regulating handling during the legal process. The PKS Bill is considered to be a special law or lex specialis. The justice system will be made like juvenile justice. Victims can choose to meet or not meet with the perpetrators, and victims are placed in a special room during the trial. This bill also regulates the role of the community, such as actions taken by Rukun Tetangga or Rukun Warga. This bill charges the perpetrator to pay restitution not as compensation to the victim, but to bear the costs of the victim's recovery.[13] There are nine forms of sexual violence described in this bill, namely sexual harassment, sexual exploitation, forced contraception, forced abortion, rape, forced marriage, forced prostitution, sexual slavery and sexual torture.[14]

According to the passed bill, there are nine forms of sexual violence worth to be punished by this law. Each form has many sub-forms detailed. The described crimes covered by this law are:

1. Sexual harassment (Art. 91-94)
   1. Sexual harassment against person resulted in shame and degradation to the victim (Art. 92, verse 1)
   2. Sexual harassment against child resulted in shame and degradation to the victim (Art. 92, verse 2)
   3. Sexual harassment against disabled person resulted in shame and degradation to the victim (Art. 92, verse 3)
   4. Sexual harassment against children with disability resulted in shame and degradation to the victim (Art. 92, verse 4)
   5. Sexual harassment against person and/or child, either disabled or not disabled, resulted in grave injury and/or insanity to victim (Art. 93)
   6. Sexual harassment committed by employer/supervisor, religious/traditional/public figure, or officials (Art. 94, verse 1)
   7. Sexual harassment committed by parents (Art. 94, verse 2)
2. Sexual exploitation (Art 95 - 100)
   1. Sexual exploitation against person (Art. 95, verse 1)
   2. Sexual exploitation against child or disabled (Art. 95, verse 2)
   3. Sexual exploitation against disabled child (Art. 95, verse 3)
   4. Sexual exploitation against person and/or child, either disabled or not disabled, resulted in insanity to the victim (Art. 96, verse 1)
   5. Sexual exploitation against person and/or child, either disabled or not disabled, resulted in unwanted pregnancy to the victim (Art. 96, verse 2)
   6. Sexual exploitation against person and/or child, either disabled or not disabled, resulted in grave injury and/or serious health problems or maladies to the victim (Art. 96, verse 3)
   7. Sexual exploitation against person and/or child, either disabled or not disabled, resulted in death (Art. 96, verse 4)
   8. Sexual exploitation against pregnant woman (Art. 97)
   9. Sexual exploitation committed by employer/supervisor, religious/traditional/public figure, or officials (Art. 98)
   10. Sexual exploitation committed by parents (Art. 99)
   11. Sexual exploitation against woman during catastrophic disaster, wartime, armed conflict, or social conflict (Art. 100)
3. Forced contraception (Art. 101 - 104)
   1. Forced contraception against person (Art. 101, verse 1)
   2. Forced contraception against child (Art. 101, verse 2)
   3. Forced contraception against disabled person (Art. 101, verse 3)
   4. Forced contraception against children with disability (Art. 101, verse 4)
   5. Forced contraception with organ removal of reproduction system (Art. 102, verse 1)
   6. Forced contraception resulted to insanity to the victim (Art. 102, verse 2)
   7. Forced contraception resulted to permanent disability (Art. 102, verse 3)
   8. Forced contraception resulted to grave injury and/or serious health problems (Art. 102, verse 4)
   9. Forced contraception resulted to death (Art. 102, verse 5)
   10. Forced contraception committed during catastrophic disaster, wartime, armed conflict, or social conflict (Art. 103)
   11. Article 104, however, permitted forced contraception to mentally disabled person. However, the forced contraception requires the person that will be forced contraception must be a person with mental disability, not a sexual offender, and the forced sterilization performed for well being of the person. In this case, the family must requested the request to the state, and the family consented to it. It also require experts recommendation.
4. Forced abortion (Art. 105 - 107)
   1. Forced abortion against person (Art. 105, verse 1)
   2. Forced abortion against child (Art. 105, verse 2)
   3. Forced abortion against disabled person (Art. 105, verse 3)
   4. Forced abortion against children with disability (Art. 105, verse 4)
   5. Forced abortion resulted to insanity to the victim (Art. 106, verse 1)
   6. Forced abortion resulted to permanent disability (Art. 106, verse 2)
   7. Forced abortion resulted to grave injury and/or serious health problems (Art. 106, verse 3)
   8. Forced abortion resulted to death (Art. 106, verse 4)
   9. Forced abortion committed during catastrophic disaster, wartime, armed conflict, or social conflict (Art. 107)
5. Rape (Art. 108 - 115)
   1. Rape against person (Art. 108, verse 1)
   2. Rape against child (Art. 108, verse 2)
   3. Rape against disabled person (Art. 108, verse 3)
   4. Rape against children with disability (Art. 108, verse 4)
   5. Rape committed when the victim is unconscious or under physical weakness or the victim is pregnant (Art. 109)
   6. Rape resulted to insanity to the victim (Art. 110, verse 1)
   7. Rape resulted to grave injury and/or serious health problems (Art. 110, verse 2)
   8. Rape resulted to death (Art. 110, verse 3)
   9. Gang rape (Art. 111)
   10. Rape committed by employer/supervisor (Art. 112, verse 1)
   11. Rape committed by religious/traditional/public figure, or officials (Art. 112, verse 2)
   12. Rape committed by parents (Art. 113)
   13. Committing provocation or promotion for rape against a person (Art. 114)
   14. Attempt to rape a person (Art. 115)
6. Forced marriage (Art. 116 - 119)
   1. Forced marriage committed to gain financial gain, fees, or career advantage (Art. 116, verse 1)
   2. Forced marriage committed to cover family or public disgrace or committed on reason for healing (Art. 116, verse 2)
   3. Forced marriage committed by religious/traditional/public figure (Art. 117, verse 1)
   4. Forced marriage committed by law enforcement or public officials (Art. 117, verse 2)
   5. Children forced marriage (Art. 118, verse 1)
   6. Children forced marriage committed with intention to cancel the education of the children (Art. 118, verse 2)
   7. Children forced marriage committed resulted to children insanity (Art. 118, verse 3)
   8. Article 119 described that it is also a crime for persons or marriage registrar officials which knowing or possessing the knowledge of the forced marriage but decided not to reported the forced marriage incident or stopping the incident.
7. Forced prostitution (Art. 120 - 125)
   1. Forced prostitution against person (Art. 120, verse 1)
   2. Forced prostitution against child (Art. 120, verse 2)
   3. Forced prostitution against disabled person (Art. 120, verse 3)
   4. Forced prostitution against children with disability (Art. 120, verse 4)
   5. Providing facilitation or promotion of forced prostitution committed by law enforcement and public officials (Art. 121, verse 1)
   6. Providing facilitation or promotion of forced prostitution committed by employer, supervisor, religious/traditional/public figure (Art. 121, verse 2)
   7. Forced prostitution against person under physical weakness or the person is pregnant or suspected pregnant (Art. 122)
   8. Forced prostitution resulted to disability, insanity, permanent disability, grave injury and/or serious health problems, or resulted in unwanted pregnancy (Art. 123, verse 1)
   9. Forced prostitution resulted to death to the victim (Art. 123, verse 2)
   10. Forced prostitution committed by spouse, family, or parents (Art. 124, verse 1)
   11. Forced prostitution committed during catastrophic disaster, wartime, armed conflict, or social conflict (Art. 125)
8. Sexual slavery (Art. 126 - 129)
   1. Sexual slavery against person (Art. 126, verse 1)
   2. Sexual slavery against child (Art. 126, verse 2)
   3. Sexual slavery against disabled person (Art. 126, verse 3)
   4. Sexual slavery against children with disability (Art. 126, verse 4)
   5. Sexual slavery resulted to insanity (Art. 127, verse 1)
   6. Sexual slavery resulted to grave injury (Art. 127, verse 2)
   7. Sexual slavery resulted to unwanted pregnancy (Art. 127, verse 3)
   8. Sexual slavery resulted to death (Art. 127, verse 4)
   9. Providing facilitation or promotion of sexual slavery committed by law enforcement and public officials (Art. 128)
   10. Sexual slavery committed during catastrophic disaster, wartime, armed conflict, or social conflict (Art. 129)
9. Sexual torture (Art. 130 - 134)
   1. Sexual torture against person (Art. 130, verse 1)
   2. Sexual torture against child (Art. 130, verse 2)
   3. Sexual torture against disabled person (Art. 130, verse 3)
   4. Sexual torture against children with disability (Art. 130, verse 4)
   5. Sexual torture against pregnant woman (Art. 131)
   6. Sexual torture resulted in temporary disability and disabling the victim to go for work, temporary loss of organ function, permanent disability, grave injury and/or serious health problems, or damaging the victim reproduction organ (Art. 132, verse 1)
   7. Sexual torture resulted in death (Art. 132, verse 2)
   8. Providing facilitation or promotion of sexual torture committed by law enforcement and public officials (Art. 133)
   9. Sexual torture committed during catastrophic disaster, wartime, armed conflict, or social conflict (Art. 134)

Chairman of the Indonesian Feminist Lawyer Clubs (IFLC) Nur Setia Alam Prawiranegara said the discussion of this bill was hampered "because this bill does not generate a lot of money. It is different from the election bill, which may have a clear circulation of money." In addition, Member of the People's Representative Council Commission VIII Rahayu Saraswati Djojohadikusumo admitted that there was no agreement on the PKS Bill between legislators and PKS Bill supporters. According to Saras, some parties consider the PKS Bill to be a regulation that justifies the existence of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT),[14] and some think that this bill comes from foreign interests, even though the drafters and supporters of this bill are Komnas Perempuan and FPL. who are assisting victims of violence in Indonesia.[4]

A petition on Change.org urging the DPR and government to discuss the PKS Bill was signed by more than 50,000 netizens on May 6, 2016.[15] On December 8, 2018, people from various alliances held a grand parade demanding that the government immediately pass the PKS Bill. The hashtag #sahkanruupks (Sign the PKS Bill) has become the most popular post on Twitter. The editor-in-chief of Jurnal Perempuan, Anita Dhewy, thinks that the ratification of the PKS Bill is urgent, especially after victims of sexual harassment in Indonesia have the courage to speak up after the emergence of the Me Too movement. Marwan Dasopang said that there were still many things that the DPR had to consider, such as interrogations that had to be coordinated with the police, the use of the title "Elimination of Sexual Violence" which could lead to various interpretations, the use of the word sexual desire which could be interpreted as same-sex desire. According to him, the existing regulations are sufficient to deal with acts of sexual violence.[8]

In a series of demonstrations and riots that took place in Indonesia in September 2019 by Indonesian students and journalists, one of the demonstrators' demands was to immediately pass the PKS Bill.[16][17] During the Indonesia omnibus bill protests in July 2020, protesters also demanded the passing of PKS Bill.[18][19]

• Draft of the bill at the DPR RI official website
• Draft of the passed bill at the DPR RI official website