JAKARTA — Government Regulation or PP Health No. 28 of 2024 has drawn public attention. Article 103 paragraph 4, especially point E, which regulates the provision of contraceptives for students and adolescents, has sparked heated debate. Experts consider that the provisions in the article are still too general and do not provide clarity regarding the implementation mechanism in the field. This lack of clarity has the potential to lead to different interpretations and trigger concerns in the community.
The discussion about this polemic has also become a topic of conversation for Dompet Dhuafa. As a philanthropic organization, Dompet Dhuafa considers this regulation to have the potential to damage the nation’s generation and religion. Dompet Dhuafa and stakeholders then urged the government to conduct a review of the policy.
So on Friday (30/08/2024), at the Philanthropy Building, South Jakarta, Dompet Dhuafa held a public discussion on this issue by inviting several speakers, namely Dr. Wira Hartiti as Chairperson of the Reproductive Health Work Team of the Indonesian Ministry of Health, Miftahul Huda, LC, as Secretary of the Fatwa Commission of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), Djarot Dimas Achmad Andaru as Academician of the University of Indonesia Law Faculty.
This discussion was attended by Dompet Dhuafa employees. Then also attended by three responders, namely Dr. H. Ahmad Fihri, MA as Muhammadiyah administrator, drg. Martina Tirta Sari as Head of Dompet Dhuafa’s Free Health Services (LKC) and Agung Pardini as IDEAS Advocacy Director.
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‘The use of diction and the absence of a detailed explanation of where and how to provide contraceptives make this policy vulnerable to misinterpretation,’ said Djarot Dimas Achmad Andaru in his presentation.
Meanwhile, Miftahul Huda assessed that this policy needs to consider social, cultural and religious aspects in more depth. In addition, the implementation mechanism must also be explained in detail so as not to cause misunderstanding.
‘The government needs to involve various parties, including religious organisations, in formulating this policy. The goal is that the policy can be accepted by all levels of society,’ he said.
Even so, Dr Wira considers this policy important to prevent unwanted pregnancies in teenagers, as well as to reduce stunting rates. On the other hand, many people are worried about the potential negative impacts of this policy.
‘This reproductive health effort is carried out by taking into account values, culture, culture and religion. And we also emphasise that this effort will not be separated from norms, culture and religion,’ he explained.
He then continued, later in the provision of contraceptives, his party agreed only for married adolescents, the goal of which is to delay pregnancy in adolescence until the age that is safe to become pregnant. This will be explained further in the RTMK, that it will not be done for all teenagers. The government, in this case the Ministry of Health, also emphasised that for adolescents, the approach taken by the government is to take a promotive and preventive approach.
‘It is also confirmed that the implementation of this service will not be carried out in schools, but by authorised health workers,’ he said.
In response to this explanation, Miftahul Huda raised three issues. Firstly, in order to avoid confusion and greater polemics in the future, the phrase ‘circumcision’ in the PP above should be replaced with ‘cutting and wounding of female genitalia (P2GP)’. Because, according to him, the use of the word circumcision is a religious term. So this will contradict Islamic religious norms that allow female circumcision.
Then secondly, in article 103 paragraph 4 e, there is a need to add the phrase ‘for married adolescents’. Third, in Article 104 paragraph 2 b, the word ‘right’ needs to be added, so that it becomes ‘correct, healthy, safe and responsible sexual behaviour’. The word ‘right’ there contains right according to Islamic law and health.
Adding to Miftah, Djarot also commented. According to him, there are phrases that need to be added to clarify. For example, in the use of the word couple. Because if you refer to this government regulation, it turns out that there are 4 categories that are said to be couples, namely couples of childbearing age, couples of childbearing age with risks, married couples, and legally married couples.
‘If it is only written as couples, sorry, it could also be ‘cohabiting’ couples, or LGBT couples,’ he said.
The existence of diverse interpretations is a natural thing in law. This is due to phrases or diction that may be less precise. However, this can be prevented by an in-depth discussion involving many people. Thus, all will agree and there will be no confusion in the future.
‘Even though the government has explained that the meaning of this sentence is to lead to this and that, we should not be careless. Because the law in Indonesia is based on the principles of lex certa and lex scripta, namely the formulation of criminal law must be clear or unambiguous and also written,’ he explained.
Another sentence that also needs to be noted is that the school age stated in the regulation can also include as early as primary school, or as early as 7 years old. So to overcome these various controversies, the government needs to provide a more detailed explanation of the policy implementation mechanism. In addition, the government also needs to involve various parties in formulating policies that are more comprehensive and in accordance with the cultural values of Indonesian society.
Agung, as a practitioner of education in schools, also responded to this polemic. According to him, the sentence Provision of contraceptives should not be included in health services, but should be included in the family planning section.
The culture of adultery in adolescents that has been so gaping requires integration between education during the day in the school environment and at night in the family and environment. The main problem among adolescents is the lagging of literacy.
‘This PP does not favour morals. The big homework for education is how to improve, strengthen the function of parents and society to be able to control children so that they do not fall into bad things,’ Agung explained.
Meanwhile, on the health side, Martina is worried that the emergence of Health PP No 28 of 2024 is only because of the rising issue of stunting. In fact, according to her, there is no close connection between solving stunting and providing contraceptives. The problem of stunting is education about nutrition, not providing contraceptives.
‘It needs to be studied more deeply about the main purpose of this programme. Is it just a fad because everyone is talking about stunting, or even worse in the future it will have an impact on the freedom of teenage relationships,’ he said.
From the results of this discussion, Dompet Dhuafa and all parties involved hope that the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia can immediately take further action on this polemic. This discussion is the first step to encourage the government to draft a Government Regulation (RPP) or Minister of Health Regulation (Permenkes) that is more comprehensive and in accordance with the norms prevailing in society. (Dompet Dhuafa)
Text and photo: Riza Muthohar
Editor: Dhika Prabowo