In Indonesia, sex outside marriage is banned and punishable by up to one year in prison. The parliament of the Southeast Asian island state passed a corresponding law on Tuesday. Critics have urged the House of Representatives not to pass the law because it violates civil rights in the world’s largest Islamic country. The new legislation is expected to come into force in 2025.
“Indonesia wants to go down the path of rights-violating catastrophe by criminalizing extramarital sex,” Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of human rights organization Human Rights Watch, warned on Twitter a few days ago. Hundreds of people took to the streets in several Indonesian cities on Monday to protest against the project. In 2019 there was already a draft law for a new code of conduct, which was initially postponed due to mass protests.
Not living together before marriage
Not only sex between unmarried people is prohibited: according to the law, couples are no longer allowed to live together before marriage. Violation would result in six months in prison. However, the police can only investigate if a family member files a report. This point is seen as a compromise between Liberals and Conservatives in Parliament. Tourists on the holiday island of Bali, for example, should therefore hardly be affected by the law.
Although sex outside marriage and homosexual relationships are not yet considered criminal offenses in Indonesia, both were taboo in the conservative country. Islamic sharia law has only been introduced in Aceh province on the northwestern tip of the island of Sumatra. Sex outside marriage is punishable by up to 100 strokes of the cane.
Source: Krone
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