Indonesia's parliament has passed new laws that ban anyone in the country from having extramarital sex and also restrict political freedoms. Sex outside marriage will carry a jail term of up to a year under the new laws, which take effect in three years.
The raft of changes come after a rise in religious conservatism in the Muslim-majority country. The laws are widely seen as a "disaster" for human rights, and a blow to tourism and investment. It's expected the new laws will be challenged in court.
The new laws apply equally to locals and to foreigners living in Indonesia, or visiting holiday destinations such as Bali. Under the laws, unmarried couples caught having sex can be jailed for up to a year. They are also banned from living together - an act for which people could be jailed for up to six months. Adultery will also be an offense for which people can be jailed.
Ajeng, a 28-year-old Muslim woman living in the West Java city of Depok, said she was now at risk for living with her partner for the past five years. "With the new law, both of us can go to jail if one of the family decides to make a police report," she told reporters. "What if there's one family member who has a problem with me and decides to send me to jail? "I think living together or having sex outside of marriage is not a crime. In my religion, it's considered a sin. But I don't think the criminal code should be based on a certain religion."
Rights groups say the new provisions disproportionately affect women, LGBT people and ethnic minorities. Many businesses had also been opposed to the legislation, saying it discouraged visitors and investment. But lawmakers have celebrated overhauling laws dating back to Dutch colonial rule. "It is time for us to make a historical decision on the penal code amendment and to leave the colonial criminal code we inherited behind," law minister Yasonna Laoly told parliament.
The new legislation contains scores of new clauses criminalizing immorality and blasphemy and restricting political and religious expression. Human Rights Watch's Asia Director Elaine Pearson said it was a "huge setback for a country that has tried to portray itself as a modern Muslim democracy". The group's Jakarta-based researcher, Andreas Harsano, said there were millions of couples in Indonesia without marriage certificates "especially among Indigenous peoples or Muslims in rural areas" who had married in specific religious ceremonies. "These people will be theoretically breaking the law as living together could be punished up to six months in prison." He added that research from Gulf states, where there are similar laws governing sex and relationships, showed women were punished and targeted by such morality laws more than men.
There are now also six blasphemy laws in the code, including apostasy - renouncing a religion. For the first time since its independence, Indonesia will make it illegal to persuade someone to be a non-believer. New defamation articles also make it illegal for people to insult the president or criticise state ideology.
According to Ajeng, "People are angry that their liberty is being taken. Indonesia has plenty of problems like poverty, climate change and corruption, but instead of solving a problem they've created a bill that only adds to the problem."
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