MUI throws support behind proposed witchcraft law

Jakarta, NU Online
The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) has said it would support a revision of the criminal code (KUHP) which includes a controversial article that would punish witchcraft.<>

“We agree that witchcraft should be classified as criminal offense,” council chairman KH Ma’ruf Amin said recently.

Kiai Ma’ruf said black magic and witchcraft were also prohibited in the Koran. However, he admitted that the MUI did not have any suggestions for how law enforcers could prove people were practicing witchcraft.

“For the legal evidence, we may have to consult with legal experts,” he said as quoted by the Jakarta Globe.

MUI has issued a haram edict against the witchcraft practice.

“We have declared since a long time ago that performing witchcraft and black magic is haram [forbidden]. We hope legal experts will come up with the method to prove the offense,” he said.

The proposal has seen widespread criticism after the KUHP revision on black magic hit the media in March, when the Justice and Human Rights Ministry sent the draft to the House of Representatives for deliberation in March.

Under Article 293 of the revised KUHP, “everyone who believes that they have magic power, informing hope, offering services that they can cause illness, death, mental or physical suffering to someone, can be sanctioned to spend at the longest five years in jail or be fined at the largest Category IV [Rp 300 million, or $30,794].”

Editor: Sudarto Murtaufiq