Sex outside marriage has been banned in Indonesia with anyone caught - including tourists - risking a year in prison. The new law also means that any couples living together unwed could be jailed for six months.
It comes after the country's MPs passed a long-awaited and controversial revision of its penal code that criminalises extramarital sex, with the rules applying to both citizens and foreigners - as well as tourists and backpackers to hotspots like Bali and the islands off Lombok.
The amended criminal code states adultery charges must be based on police reports lodged by their spouse, parents or children. It also says the promotion of contraception and religious blasphemy are illegal, and it restores a ban on insulting a sitting president and vice president, state institutions and national ideology.
Rights groups criticised some proposed revisions as overly broad or vague and warned rushing them into the new criminal code could penalise normal activities and threaten freedom of expression and privacy rights. Politicians also agreed to repeal an article proposed by Islamic groups that would have made gay sex illegal, which some advocates hailed as a victory for the country’s LGBTQ minority.
The code maintains abortion is a crime, but it adds exceptions for women with life-threatening medical conditions and for rape survivors, provided that the foetus is less than 12 weeks old. The code would also preserve the death penalty within the criminal justice system despite calls from the National Commission on Human Rights and other groups to abolish capital punishment.
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A previous bill was poised for passage in 2019 but president Joko Widodo urged politicians to delay a vote on the bill amid mounting public criticism that led to nationwide protests when tens of thousands of people took to the streets.
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