Indonesia’s national legislature passed a new criminal code on December 6 that will criminalize pre-marital sex.
The new criminal code will apply to Indonesians and foreigners alike, and the punishment for sex outside marriage would be up to a year in prison. Aside from pre-marital sex, the new criminal law would also penalize cohabitation between unmarried couples as well as insulting the President or state institutions, expressing opinions against Indonesia’s state ideology, and staging protests without a permit.
Indonesia passed a sweeping new criminal code that bans sex outside marriage — punished by up to a year in prison.
The code also:
bans unmarried cohabitation, which critics say could be used to criminalize LGBTQ+ people
makes it illegal to insult the president or state pic.twitter.com/L8CHprVyhs— AJ+ (@ajplus) December 6, 2022
The new criminal code was passed with support from all of Indonesia’s political parties. Currently, Muslim-majority Indonesia, the world’s third-largest democracy and the largest democracy in South East Asia, only banned adultery before the passage of the new criminal code. Although the new criminal code was passed, the law would not be enforced for three years to allow the drafting of implementing regulations.
The new law will also include lighter punishments for those charged with corruption. Indonesia planned to revise its previous criminal code, a holdover of Dutch colonization, but the government halted these plans after nationwide protests in 2019. The newly-passed criminal code has been amended and watered down from a previous version so that the law can be limited by who can report them, such as a parent, child, or spouse of suspected offenders.
Critics highlighted specific provisions of the criminal code as undermining civil liberties and democratic freedoms that were put into place after the fall of Indonesia’s dictator Suharto in 1998. However, some Indonesian officials defended the new criminal code.
"The aim is to protect the institution of marriage and Indonesian values while at the same time being able to protect the privacy of the community and also negate the rights of the public or other third parties to report this matter or 'playing judge' on behalf of morality," Albert Aries, spokesperson of Indonesia’s justice ministry, said defending the criminal code.
"It's not easy for a multicultural and multi-ethnic country to make a criminal code that can accommodate all interests." Indonesia's Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly also told the legislature in response to criticism against the bill.
Business groups, newspaper outlets, human rights activists, and legal experts voiced their concerns over the new criminal code, citing the damage it could inflict on Indonesia’s reputation as a destination for both vacation and investment.
Everything You Need To Know About Bali’s New Laws For Unmarried Coupleshttps://t.co/Eh7YaZlLOx#Bali #Indonesia #travel
— The Bali Sun (@thebali_sun) December 7, 2022
"For the business sector, the implementation of this customary law shall create legal uncertainty and make investors reconsider investing in Indonesia." Shinta Widjaja Sukamdani, deputy chairperson of Indonesia's Employers' Association (APINDO), said regarding the law.
"We deeply regret that the government have closed their eyes. We have already expressed our concern to the ministry of tourism about how harmful this law is," Maulana Yusran, deputy chief of Indonesia’s tourism board, said about the criminal code. He also described it as “counter-productive.”
Strict laws on sex and relationship are not without precedents in Indonesia. In the conservative province of Aceh, the local government enforced Islamic laws and punished people for gambling, drinking alcohol, having pre-marital sex, and having same-sex relationships. The public had also been silent on the new code, except for some small protests.
