Indonesia

2022 - 12 - 6

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Image courtesy of "BBC News"

Indonesia passes criminal code banning sex outside marriage (BBC News)

The new laws will disproportionately punish women, LGBT people and religious minorities, critics say.

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Image courtesy of "CNN"

Indonesia bans sex outside marriage as parliament passes ... (CNN)

Indonesian lawmakers unanimously passed a sweeping new criminal code on Tuesday that criminalizes sex outside marriage, as part of a tranche of changes that ...

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Image courtesy of "TIME"

Sex Outside Marriage Will Be Illegal Under Indonesia's Sweeping ... (TIME)

The revised criminal code, which applies to both locals and foreigners, also penalizes insulting the country's president and vice president.

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Image courtesy of "Reuters"

Indonesia bans sex outside marriage in new criminal code (Reuters)

Indonesia's parliament approved a new criminal code on Tuesday that bans sex outside marriage with a punishment of up to one year in jail, despite worries ...

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Image courtesy of "SBS"

Australians visiting Bali will need to be wary of Indonesia's ... (SBS)

Indonesia's parliament has approved a criminal code that bans sex outside marriage with a punishment of up to one year in jail, part of a raft of legal ...

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Image courtesy of "6PR"

Aussie tourists warned as Indonesia bans sex outside marriage (6PR)

Indonesia's Parliament has passed a controversial criminal code, that includes laws to ban sex outside marriage. It also makes it illegal to insult the ...

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Image courtesy of "WOKV"

Indonesia's Parliament votes to ban sex outside of marriage (WOKV)

The amended code also expands an existing blasphemy law and maintains a five-year prison term for deviations from the central tenets of Indonesia's six ...

“Finalizing this process demonstrates that even 76 years after the Dutch Criminal Code was adopted as the Indonesian Criminal Code, it is never too late to produce laws on our own,” Laoly said. Widodo instructed Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly to obtain input from various groups as lawmakers debated the articles. It restores a ban on insulting a sitting president or vice president, state institutions and the national ideology. President Joko Widodo is widely expected to sign the revised code in light of its extended approval process in Parliament. But even without the president's signature, it automatically takes effect after 30 days unless the president issues a regulation to cancel it. But under the new code, the death penalty has a probationary period.

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Image courtesy of "Financial Times"

Indonesia to ban insults against president under new criminal code (Financial Times)

We'll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Indonesian politics news every morning. Indonesia has legislated to outlaw insults against the ...

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Image courtesy of "The Latch"

Indonesia Has Criminalised Sex Outside Marriage, So If You Want It ... (The Latch)

Indonesia is set to pass sweeping criminal reforms that will make sex outside of marriage a jailable offence along with a raft of other sanctions including ...

“The danger of oppressive laws is not that they’ll be broadly applied, it’s that they provide avenue for selective enforcement,” he said. Although these laws have now passed, it is likely that they will be challenged in court. After a difficult few years for the industry through COVID, there are fears that tourists will simply not return to the islands if sex is banned. [Aussies on Facebook groups dedicated to travelling to Indonesia](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-63874633) have said they will be travelling with their marriage certificates or just going elsewhere if they can’t share a room with their partner. However, many of the laws can only be enforced if someone makes an official complaint about another breaking them. “It would be applicable to tourists,” he said. So, you’ve still got a bit of time to travel to the popular tourist destination before the sex ban without fear of prosecution. Defamation can be punished by jail time, while other sections of the code could be used to legitimise discrimination against women, religious minority groups, and queer people. The laws apply to both locals and foreigners. They have been described by critics as a “disaster” for human rights. Locals are also prohibited from practising ‘black magic’ while 10-year sentences can now be handed down for associating with pro-Lenin, Marxist, or communist groups. “The state cannot manage morality.

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Image courtesy of "The Diplomat"

Indonesia's Parliament Passes Repressive New Penal Code (The Diplomat)

Indonesia's parliament today passed a controversial new criminal code, completing a legal overhaul that civil liberties activists say will abridge ...

Jessica Stern, Washington’s special envoy to advance the rights of LGBTQI+ persons, was scheduled to visit Indonesia on December 7, after stops in Vietnam and the Philippines. [canceled a trip to Indonesia](https://www.benarnews.org/english/news/indonesian/jessica-stern-indonesia-12022022131526.html) by its envoy for LGBTQ rights, following a strong denunciation of the visit by the country’s top clerical body. In [comments to parliament](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/06/indonesia-passes-legislation-banning-sex-outside-marriage), Yasonna Laoly, the minister of law and human rights, framed the long-awaited code as a way of Indonesia making a final break with its colonial heritage. The code also bans criticisms of Indonesia’s “unity in diversity” state ideology, Pancasila, and preserves the use of the death penalty, despite calls from the National Commission on Human Rights to do away with capital punishment. Other protesters carried placards that said “Criminal code bill controls women’s bodies.” Protests, which continued into today, also [reportedly took place](https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/indonesia-set-pass-new-criminal-code-that-will-ban-sex-outside-marriage-2022-12-05/) as far afield as Papua in the east of the country and its westernmost province, Aceh. But legal experts and civil society groups say that this political accommodation will likely lead to a “huge setback” for the world’s third-largest democracy.

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