Supreme Court Mandates Strict Matrix for Terrorism Sentencing: Five-Step Assessment Restricts Judicial Discretion

Indonesia’s Supreme Court (Mahkamah Agung – “MA”) has issued Regulation No. 2 of 2026 on Guidelines for the Sentencing of Specific Criminal Acts of Terrorism (“Regulation 2/2026”).

As its title suggests, Regulation 2/2026 establishes a structured sentencing framework for specific terrorism-related crimes in order to ensure proportionality, legal certainty and consistency while preventing any sentencing disparities.[1] In this regard, Regulation 2/2026 mandates a five-stage process which should be applied by judges in order to evaluate levels of fault and severity of impact and thereby determine sentencing ranges, which will then be refined through considerations of any aggravating and mitigating factors.