People in Indonesia who have sex outside of marriage could face up to a year in prison if officials approve sweeping changes to the country’s criminal code, expected on Tuesday. In addition to criminalizing adultery, the revised code would prohibit unmarried couples from living together. The law, if passed, would apply to both Indonesian citizens and foreigners, including tourists to the hotspots of Bali and islands off Lombok. Insulting the president and spreading views contrary to the secular national ideology, known as Pancasila, will also be outlawed. Legal experts and civil society groups say the changes are a “huge setback” for the Southeast Asian nation. “The state cannot manage morality. The government’s task is not to be an arbiter between conservative and liberal Indonesia,” said Bivitri Susanti, a legal expert from Indonesia’s Jentera Law School. House of Representatives deputy speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad and Bambang Wuryanto, head of the parliamentary committee overseeing the revision, told Reuters that parliament would hold a plenary session on Tuesday to ratify the new code. Previous plans to ratify the new draft code in September 2019 were stalled by nationwide protests. Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets and demonstrations turned violent, with police using tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowds. Image: People protest against new laws in Indonesia banning adultery. Revisions to the code, which dates back to the colonial era, have been made for decades. While the changes have sparked mass protests in recent years, the response has been much more muted this year. Daniel Winarta, a student at the University of Indonesia, was among a small crowd of protesters who gathered outside parliament in the capital Jakarta on Monday. “Regarding cohabitation, for example, it’s clearly a private matter,” he said. “We will continue to reject it.” Indonesia’s population is predominantly Muslim, with significant groups of Hindus, Christians and people of other faiths. Most Indonesian Muslims practice a moderate version of Islam, but recent years have seen a rise in religious conservatism seeping into politics. Under the revised code, only close relatives such as a spouse, parent or child can report complaints related to extramarital sex or cohabitation. Only the president can file an insult complaint, but such a crime carries a three-year prison sentence. It will take three years after the code is ratified to come into effect to give the government time to draft related regulations.
