Tuesday, Indonesia’s Parliament unanimously approved a new criminal code that makes sex outside of marriage illegal and punishable with up to a year behind bars. As the BBC reports, the new laws come as the Muslim-majority country sees a significant rise in religious conservatism. Sound familiar?
The new 200-page code applies to locals and tourists, such as those who travel to the famous island province of Bali. And it’s worse than the headlines will lead you to think. According to Reuters, “The new code, which will apply to Indonesians and foreigners alike, also prohibits cohabitation between unmarried couples. It will also ban insulting the president or state institutions, spreading views counter to the state ideology, and staging protests without notification.”
Putu Winastra, chairman of the Association of the Indonesian Tours and Travel Agencies (ASITA) in Bali, told CNN the new code would “make foreigners think twice” about visiting the country.
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Additionally, the code disproportionately targets the LGBTQ community, as same-sex marriage is illegal in Indonesia.
"With the new law, both of us can go to jail if one of the family decides to make a police report," Ajeng, a 28-year-old Muslim woman living in the West Java city of Depok, told the BBC.
"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,” Ajeng added.
Tim Lindsey, director of the Center for Indonesian Law, Islam, and Society at the University of Melbourne, told The New York Times that the new law “is a very significant encroachment on rights and liberties in Indonesia. And Muhamad Isnur, chairman of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, says they run “contrary to international human rights norms. We are in a new paradigm.”
The laws against sex outside of marriage have been on the books for years but were never enforced. They date back to Dutch colonial rule.
CNN reports that critics of the new code warn that it would “disproportionately impact women” and roll back the human rights of the country’s 270 million people.
Usman Hamid, executive director of Amnesty International Indonesia, said, “What we’re witnessing is a huge setback to Indonesia’s hard-won progress in protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms after the 1998 revolution. This criminal code should have never been passed in the first place.”
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While this is alarming and inhumane, we need look no further than our own nation’s new archaic laws around reproductive health and the rights of LGBTQ Americans for comparison.
Let’s not forget that since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, abortions are currently banned in at least 13 U.S. states. And after the Senate passed a bill protecting and recognizing same-sex and interracial marriages, the bill was delayed unexpectedly Tuesday and remains under discussion by the House and Senate.
“The very fact we’re even having these conversations is really disheartening to me,” Sharon Baldwin told PBS News. “It’s ridiculous to think that anybody in this country who has legally married one place could suddenly be unmarried in another,” Bishop-Baldwin said.
Monday, the Supreme Court seemed poised to back a conservative Colorado-based Christian website designer who says she will refuse to celebrate same-sex marriages in her hypothetical business—that’s right; SCOTUS is hearing a case based on events that have not happened—and is using her right to free speech under the First Amendment as an alibi. Only time will tell whether the Supreme Court is willing to codify hate and bias based on one woman’s mythical adventure in being a good person while running a business. But given the gains authoritarian Republicans have made over the lives of millions of Americans in just a few short years, it’s hard to feel hopeful.
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