Indonesia passes law punishing extramarital sex with up to 1 year in prison

Indonesia’s parliament has passed a new criminal law that criminalizes extramarital sex and carries a sentence of up to one year in prison.

It’s part of a series of changes that, according to critics, represent a decline in the rights of the population.

The new penal code, which will come into force three years later, also includes a ban on insulting the president and demonstrating against the state’s ideology.

The new law, which applies to both Indonesians and foreigners, includes several “moral” laws that make it illegal for unmarried couples to live together and have sex.

Human rights groups say this disproportionately affects women, LGBT individuals and ethnic minorities in the country.

Reports of extramarital sex can be made by the spouse or parents of the person. Adultery will also be a crime for which you can go to jail.

Protesters held small protests against the new law in front of parliament in the capital, Jakarta, this week.

Human rights activists say the new law also blocks political expression and stifles religious freedom.

There are now six laws in law against blasphemy – apostasy – including giving up one’s religion. For the first time since independence, Indonesia will make it illegal to persuade someone to be a disbeliever.

The new anti-slander articles also make it illegal to insult the president or express views contrary to national ideology.

But lawmakers said they were adding protections for freedom of speech and “public interest” protests.

Still, Human Rights Watch said this Tuesday (06/12) the norms of the new law are a “catastrophic” for human rights.

Elaine Pearson, the group’s Asia Director, told the BBC this was “a major failure for a country trying to present itself as a modern Muslim democracy”.

Andreas Harsano, a Jakarta-based researcher at the organisation, warned that millions of couples married in certain religious ceremonies in Indonesia, “especially among indigenous peoples or rural Muslims”, do not have a marriage license.

“These people would theoretically be breaking the law, as cohabitation could be punishable by up to six months in prison,” he told the BBC.

Harsano added that research conducted in Gulf States, where there are similar laws governing sex and relationships, show that women are more targeted and punished by such moral laws than men.

Analysis

Jonathan Head, BBC Southeast Asia Correspondent

Indonesia is not a secular state. Is atheism unacceptable? Technically, you have to follow one of the six recognized religions. Therefore, it is a multi-religious state with an official ideology of Pancasila, favoring no faith over another.

It was the idea of ​​Indonesia’s post-independence leader, Sukarno, to deter large parts of the non-Muslim archipelago from secession.

But since the overthrow of Suharto, who brutally repressed Islamist political groups, there has been an increased mobilization around Islamic values, a sense that Islam is threatened by outside influences, and more conservatism in many parts of the island of Java. More than half of Indonesians live.

Political parties responded and demanded tougher laws for the morality police.

The current leader, Jokowi, hails from the syncretic Javanese tradition, which espouses a looser form of Islam, but his main concern is a legacy of economic development rather than tolerance and liberal values.

With the arrest of Ahok, the former governor of Jakarta, who was accused of blasphemy, he showed his willingness to give radical Muslims a little bit of what they wanted.

Indonesia is home to several religions, but most of its 267 million people are Muslims. Since the country’s democratic transition in 1998, the nation has followed a faith known as Pancasila, which prioritizes no faith but rejects atheism. However, local laws in many parts of the country are based on religious values.

Some parts of Indonesia already have strict laws on sex and religious relations.

The state of Aceh, for example, enforces strict Islamic laws, penalizing people for gambling, alcohol consumption, and encounters with people of the opposite sex.

Many Islamic civic groups have been pushing for greater influence in public policy making in Indonesia in recent years.

Lawmakers on Tuesday welcomed the adoption of the new penal code, which has not been fully revised since Indonesia gained independence from Dutch rule.

An earlier draft of the law was due to be passed in 2019, but sparked nationwide protests, with tens of thousands of people joining the demonstrations.

Many, including students, took to the streets and clashed with police in the capital, Jakarta.

– This text was published at https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/internacional-63870859.