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This country’s legal measures were reviewed by our legal staff in consultation with in-country lawyers and/or CRVS legal experts. All efforts were made to ensure the accuracy of the legal analysis, however, if you consider there to be any discrepancies or if there have been changes in the law of the country since our staff last updated the legal analysis, we welcome any additional information or insights. Please contact us via this form.
Medicolegal Death Investigation
Indonesia
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Death Registration
Declaration and Notification
Informants
Who is designated primary informant for unnatural or suspicious deaths?
Specified officer of the medical legal system
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
Regardless of whether the death occurred with or without medical supervision, designating a specified officer of the medicolegal system as an informant has been most effective in notification and declaration of deaths in suspicious or unnatural death cases. To ensure that unnatural and suspicious deaths are registered, legislation should clearly specify who is responsible for notifying the registrar of the fact of death. The fact of death should be notified within the required time frame, even if a coroner or medical examiner’s inquiry into cause of death is still underway. Depending on the circumstances surrounding an unnatural or suspicious death, responsibility may be placed on emergency services, health workers, coroners, medical examiners, police or other medical-legal officers for ensuring registration of death. Responsibility should not be placed on the family, as that may result in the death not being declared to the registrar.
What evidence or documents are required to register death?
Notice of death
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
Countries should ideally require an accurate, detailed and medically certified cause of death to register a death. However, failure to ascertain cause of death should not prevent death registration. When medical cause of death certificate is unavailable, evidence of fact of death should be sufficient to register death. Evidence of fact of death could be a notification of death or other similar document, a Medical Certificate of Cause of Death, Witness Statement or other similar evidence.
A death confirmation letter is required to register a death. The death confirmation letter is completed by a physician (for deaths in health facilities), or the head of a village (for community deaths).
Death Registration
Procedure
Incomplete Records, Amendments, and Corrections
Can the death registration record be amended by the registrar in medicolegal cases, after the inquiry has concluded?
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
There may be need to amend a death registration record after conclusion of medicolegal inquiry that reveals cause of death or a person's identity. Adjudication in courts may also result in change of manner of death. The civil registrar should have the authority to amend this information with submission of medical certificate of cause of death or court order.
Death Registration
Medicolegal Death Investigations
Medicolegal Death Investigations Authority
Who is the medicolegal death investigation (MLDI) authority in the jurisdiction?
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
Law Source
Indonesia
Legal Analysis
Coming soon
Law Source
Does the law clearly state what types of cases must be referred to the MLDI authority and is this in accordance with international guidance?
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
Deaths due to known or suspected unnatural or external causes should be referred to the Medicolegal Death Investigation (MLDI) authority. This includes deaths due to violence, injury, self-harm, suspicious causes, and sudden, unexplained or unexpected deaths.
Death Registration
Medicolegal Death Investigations
Death in custody
Does the law mandate that deaths in custody be referred to the medicolegal death investigation authority and specify who is responsible for notifying the authority?
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
All deaths in custody should be viewed as potentially unlawful or suspicious deaths and referred to the medical-legal authorities for investigation, as required by the Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death. Death in custody includes detention facilities, pursuit or apprehension by police. The law should clearly state who is responsible for notifying the medical-legal authorities, when a death in custory occurs. For deaths that occur in detention facilites the head of facility should initiate the process. For deaths occuring during pursuit or apprehension by law enforcement, police chief should initiate the process.
Does the law clearly state who is responsible for medically certifying cause of death when deaths are unnatural or suspicious, or otherwise referred to the MLDI authority?
No
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
Deaths due to unnatural causes (such as accident, self-harm or violence); man-made or natural disasters; suspiciouos causes, or where CoD cannot be determined by the attending physician should be referred to the Medicolegal Death Investigation (MLDI) authority for medical certification of cause of death. The coroner may be responsible for certifying cause of death in cases of unnatural death.
Article 133 of Law No. 8 of 1981 on Criminal Procedure authorizes investigators to request a medical expert to conduct a post-mortem examination, if there is a suspicion that a death occurred as a result of a criminal offense. Article 158 of Law 17/2023 stipulates that the post-mortem examination must be performed by medical personnel. However, there is no provision that requires investigators to refer a case to a medical expert. If referred to a medical expert, the medical expert is required to submit a report to the investigator but there is no explicit requirement to complete a medical certificate of cause of death.
Law Source
Cause of Death
Medical Certificate of Cause of Death Form
Form
Is the same form used for all types of deaths, including natural deaths and deaths referred to MLDI?
No
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
It is recommended practice to use the same WHO MCCD (or WHO MCCD compliant) form for all types of deaths.
The use of the MOH MCCD form is not currently required by law. Currently, different forms are use across the country, and different forms might be in use for different types of deaths.
Law Source
Cause of Death
Transmission of Cause of Death Data
Transmission of Cause of Death Data
For a death referred to the MLDI system, does the law specify how cause of death information is transmitted to the civil registrar and/or statistics agency?
Yes for transmission of information to statistics agency
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
Coordination among medical and legal authorities is crucial for the consistent management of unnatural and suspicious deaths and their timely registration in the civil registration system. Law enforcement, medical-legal authorities and emergency services must work closely and collaboratively to ensure that unnatural and suspicious deaths are promptly registered and that cause and manner of death are certified and reported to the registrar or national statistics agency. The medical certificate of cause of death should be transmitted to the registrar (or statistics authority) by the coroner or medical examiner.
Forensics units of hospitals and local police departments must report cause of death data for unnatural deaths to the District/City Health Office on a monthly basis. The District /City Health Office reports cause of death data quarterly to the Provincial Health Office and Ministry of Health.
