Unlawfulness Within the Bugo Tradition in Morotai: A Comparative Perspective of Positive Criminal Law & Islamic Criminal Law
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15408/ajis.v26i1.50060Keywords:
Bugo tradition, Islamic criminal law, Material unlawfulness, ShubhahAbstract
The Bugo tradition in Sangowo Village, Morotai Island Regency, is the practice of taking fruit or goods from someone's garden by leaving a sign as notification to the owner. This practice raises legal issues when confronted with theft under the Criminal Code and sariqah in fiqh al-jināyāt. This study employs a legal-empirical or socio-legal method with conceptual and comparative approaches to analyse Bugo's legal status from the perspectives of positive and Islamic criminal law. The results show that although Bugo formally fulfills the elements of Article 476 of the Criminal Code, its material unlawfulness is nullified because it is a living law accepted by the community and qualifies as a reason for criminal exemption outside the law. From the fiqh al-jināyāt perspective, Bugo does not fulfill the elements of khufyah and qaṣd al-sariqah, while strong shubhah from ʿurf nullifies the ḥadd based on the rule of "idrāʾ al-ḥudūd bi al-shubuhāt" (ḥudūd are averted by doubt). Both legal systems have flexible safety valves and consider social context, yet differ in focus: positive criminal law nullifies the act's unlawful nature, whereas Islamic criminal law nullifies the ḥadd penalty even when the act remains shubhah.
Abstrak
Tradisi Bugo di Desa Sangowo, Kabupaten Pulau Morotai, adalah praktik mengambil buah atau barang dari kebun milik orang lain dengan meninggalkan tanda sebagai pemberitahuan kepada pemiliknya. Praktik ini menimbulkan problematika yuridis ketika dihadapkan pada delik pencurian dalam KUHP dan delik sariqah dalam fikih jinayat. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode yuridis-empiris atau socio-legal research dengan pendekatan konseptual serta pendekatan komparatif untuk menganalisis status hukum tradisi Bugo dalam perspektif hukum pidana positif dan hukum pidana Islam. Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa meskipun tradisi bugo secara formil memenuhi unsur delik Pasal 476 KUHP, sifat melawan hukum materiilnya gugur karena merupakan living law yang diterima masyarakat dan dapat dikualifikasikan sebagai alasan penghapus pidana di luar undang-undang. Dalam perspektif fikih jinayat, tradisi Bugo tidak memenuhi unsur khufyah dan qaṣd al-sariqah, serta menimbulkan shubhah yang kuat dari ʿurf yang menggugurkan ḥadd berdasarkan kaidah “idrāʾ al-ḥudūd bi al-shubuhāt”. Kedua sistem hukum memiliki katup pengaman yang fleksibel dan mempertimbangkan konteks sosial, namun berbeda dalam fokus: hukum pidana positif menggugurkan sifat melawan hukum perbuatan, sementara hukum pidana Islam menggugurkan sanksi ḥadd meskipun perbuatan masih bersifat shubhah.
References
Abdelkader, D. (2016). Modernity, the principles of public order and the purpose of Islamic law. Journal of Islamic Law and Culture, 18(1), 67–88. https://doi.org/10.1080/1528817X.2016.1186649
Ahmad, I. (2019). The concept of theft (sariqah) in Islamic criminal law: A contemporary analysis. Journal of Islamic Law Studies, 3(1), 45–68.
Al-Dawoody, A. (2017). Recontextualizing Islamic law: A maqāṣidī approach. Islamic Law and Society, 24(4), 440–472. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685195-00244P06
Ali, M. (2019). Transformation of the material unlawfulness doctrine in Indonesian criminal law. Indonesia Law Review, 9(2), 147–165. https://doi.org/10.15742/ilrev.v9n2.589
Alwani, Z. (2015). The role of 'urf in Islamic jurisprudence. Journal of Islamic Law and Culture, 15(2), 89–110.
Arief, B. N. (2016). Ultimum remedium principle and criminalization policy. Masalah-Masalah Hukum, 45(1), 10-17. https://doi.org/10.14710/mmh.45.1.2016.10-17
Arief, B. N. (2018). Criminal law policy and law enforcement in Indonesia. Journal of Indonesian Legal Studies, 3(2), 155-176. https://doi.org/10.15294/jils.v3i02.27560
Auda, J. (2008). Maqasid al-Shariah as Philosophy of Islamic Law: A Systems Approach. International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT).
Baderin, M. A. (2017). Custom (ʿurf) as a supplementary source of Islamic law. Islamic Law and Society, 24(3), 234-258. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685195-00243P02
Bakar, M. D. (2020). Shariah-compliant penalties and contemporary application. Islamic Economic Studies, 28(1), 1-24.
Benda-Beckmann, F. von, Benda-Beckmann, K. von, & Griffiths, A. (2009). The Power of Law in a Transnational World: Anthropological Enquiries. Berghahn Books.
Bennett, T. W. (2018). Comparative law and African customary law. In The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Law (2nd ed., pp. 641-673). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198810230.013.24
Cao, L. (2020). Comparative criminal justice. In The Oxford Handbook of Criminal Law (pp. 89-112). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190071707.013.21
Dusuki, A. W., & Bouheraoua, S. (2021). The framework of maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah and its implications for Islamic finance. International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management, 4(1), 2-19. https://doi.org/10.1108/17538391111122186
El-Mesawi, M. E. T. (2020). Ibn Ashur: Treatise on Maqasid al-Shari'ah. Islamic Sciences, 18(1), 1-25.
El Shamsy, A. (2020). The social construction of orthodoxy. In The Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic Theology (pp. 97-117). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316888032.007
Fadel, M. (2019). Islamic law and the politics of classical legal theory. Islamic Law and Society, 26(3), 239-279. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685195-00263P01
Feinberg, J. (1984). The Moral Limits of the Criminal Law Volume 1: Harm to Others. Oxford University Press.
Geertz, C. (2017). Local knowledge and comparative legal studies. In Comparative Legal Studies: Traditions and Transitions (pp. 167-189). Cambridge University Press.
Glenn, H. P. (2014). Legal Traditions of the World: Sustainable Diversity in Law (5th ed.). Oxford University Press.
Griffiths, A. (2020). Pursuing legal pluralism: The power of paradigms in a global world. Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law, 52(1), 1-30. https://doi.org/10.1080/07329113.2020.1723226
Hallaq, W. B. (2009). Sharī'a: Theory, Practice, Transformations. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511815300
Hallaq, W. B. (2013). The Impossible State: Islam, Politics, and Modernity's Moral Predicament. Columbia University Press.
Hamzah, A. (2017). Asas-Asas Hukum Pidana. Rineka Cipta.
Hellum, A., & Taj, F. (2019). Introduction: Changing practices of legal pluralism. The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law, 51(3), 259-269. https://doi.org/10.1080/07329113.2019.1679664
Hernoko, A. Y et al., (2020). The conception of customary law in modern land law politics in Indonesia. Journal of Legal, Ethical and Regulatory Issues, 23(4), 1-11.
Hiariej, E. O. S. (2016). Prinsip-Prinsip Hukum Pidana. Cahaya Atma Pustaka.
Hooker, M. B. (2008). Indonesian Syariah: Defining a National School of Islamic Law. ISEAS Publishing.
Husa, J. (2015). A New Introduction to Comparative Law. Hart Publishing.
Husak, D. (2008). Overcriminalization: The Limits of the Criminal Law. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195328714.001.0001
Husak, D. (2016). The costs of criminalization. In The New Philosophy of Criminal Law (pp. 45-68). Rowman & Littlefield.
Kamali, M. H. (2019). Crime and punishment in Islamic law: A fresh interpretation. Arab Law Quarterly, 33(1), 1-28. https://doi.org/10.1163/15730255-12331069
Lamintang, P. A. F. (2018). Dasar-Dasar Hukum Pidana Indonesia. Sinar Grafika.
Masud, M. K. (2017). Islamic Legal Philosophy: A Study of Abū Isḥāq al-Shāṭibī's Life and Thought. Islamic Book Trust.
Merry, S. E. (2020). Legal pluralism and legal culture—Mapping the terrain. In Legal Pluralism and Development (pp. 66-82). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108529055.005
Menski, W. (2006). Comparative Law in a Global Context: The Legal Systems of Asia and Africa (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511606687
Moeljatno. (2015). Asas-Asas Hukum Pidana. Rineka Cipta.
Mulyadi, L. (2020). Progressive criminal law in Indonesia: Between das sein and das sollen. Yuridika, 35(1), 135-162. https://doi.org/10.20473/ydk.v35i1.17634
Nelken, D. (2016). Comparative criminal justice and globalization: Beyond informal justice. European Journal of Criminology, 13(1), 9-25. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477370815617188
Nurdin, R et al., (2021). Legal pluralism and customary law dispute resolution in Indonesia. Heliyon, 7(12), e08499. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e08499
Opwis, F. (2010). Maslaha and the Purpose of the Law: Islamic Discourse on Legal Change from the 4th/10th to 8th/14th Century. Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004184626.i-346
Opwis, F. (2017). Maṣlaḥa in contemporary Islamic legal theory. Islamic Law and Society, 12(2), 182-223. https://doi.org/10.1163/1568519054300886
Peters, R. (2005). Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law: Theory and Practice from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511791734
Pratt, J. (2020). Penal populism. In The Routledge International Handbook of Penal Abolition (pp. 34-48). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429467042-4
Ramadan, T. (2017). Radical Reform: Islamic Ethics and Liberation. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199323098.001.0001
Remmelink, J. (2003). Hukum Pidana: Komentar atas Pasal-Pasal Terpenting dari KUHP Belanda dan Padanannya dalam KUHP Indonesia. Gramedia Pustaka Utama.
Rosen, L. (2018). Islamic concepts of justice and injustice. Cardozo Law Review, 40(1), 73-92.
Saeed, A., & Saeed, H. (2016). Freedom of Religion, Apostasy and Islam. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315258980
Sahetapy, J. E., & Pohan, A. (2019). Viktimologi Sebuah Bunga Rampai. Pustaka Sinar Harapan.
Schaffmeister, D., et al., (1995). Hukum Pidana. Liberty.
Siems, M. (2018). Comparative Law (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316480236
Simester, A. P., & Von Hirsch, A. (2011). Crimes, Harms, and Wrongs: On the Principles of Criminalisation. Hart Publishing.
Simons, D. (1992). Kitab Pelajaran Hukum Pidana. Pionir Jaya.
Tamanaha, B. Z. (2008). Understanding legal pluralism: Past to present, local to global. Sydney Law Review, 30, 375-411.
Tamanaha, B. Z. (2021). Legal pluralism explained: History, theory, consequences. Annual Review of Law and Social Science, 17, 9-32. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-060220-081052
Von Hirsch, A., & Wohlers, W. (2017). Rechtsgutstheorie and harm principle: Are they compatible? New Criminal Law Review, 20(1), 27-41. https://doi.org/10.1525/nclr.2017.20.1.27
Zaman, M. Q. (2018). The evolution of Islamic jurisprudence: Custom versus texts. Journal of Islamic Studies, 29(2), 145-172. https://doi.org/10.1093/jis/ety009
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Rahmat Abdullah, Abdul Mutalib, Andri Sutrisno, Agnes Fitryantica, Arikha Saputra
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
