Indonesia's new criminal code makes sex outside marriage a criminal offence, punishable with one year in jail
Indonesia criminalises pre-marital sex
On Tuesday, Indonesia's parliament approved legislation that penalises sex outside of marriage with one year of imprisonment.
The move has been touted by lawmakers as a step forward, leaving behind an "inherited" colonial criminal code. However, rights groups have labelled the amendment as a crackdown on civil liberties.
Watch |WION Fineprint: Indonesia set to punish sex before marriage
"We have tried our best to accommodate the important issues and different opinions which were debated. However, it is time for us to make a historical decision on the penal code amendment and to leave the colonial criminal code we inherited behind," Yasonna Laoly, the Minister of Law and Human Rights, told parliament as the new controversial criminal code received a majority of votes during the plenary session.
The new legislation also criminalises extra-marital sex and unmarried couples living together.
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Opponents of the legislation have raised concerns over how this may impact same-sex couples. In Indonesia gay marriage is illegal.
However, Albert Aries, the spokesperson of the Law and Human Rights Ministry's criminal code bill dissemination team, defended the amendments and said the law would protect marriage institutions.
Rights groups slammed it as moral policing and a crackdown on civil, and political freedoms. They say that in a country boasting the world's most populous Muslim majority and long hailed for religious tolerance, the law is a shift towards fundamentalism. On Monday, citizens too took to the streets in protest.
As per Aries, the amendment cannot be misused as acts of pre-marital and extra-marital sex can only be reported by a spouse, parents or children.
"We are going backward... repressive laws should have been abolished but the bill shows that the arguments of scholars abroad are true, that our democracy is indisputably in decline," said Amnesty International Indonesia director Usman Hamid while talking to AFP.
(With inputs from agencies)
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