Indonesia drafts law banning abortion, extramarital sex and insulting the president

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Indonesia could ban sex outside marriage as early as next week in a draconian new criminal code that also carries stiff penalties for abortion, “black magic” and insulting the president.

It can impose a punishment of up to one year in jail for extramarital sex. Rights groups have long warned the new law, which has been decades in the making, would violate the rights of women, minorities, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gender people, as well as undermine freedom of speech.

However, Edward Omar Sharif Hiariej, deputy justice minister, told Reuters: “We’re proud to have a criminal code in line with Indonesian values.”

If passed, the new rules would apply to both Indonesian citizens and foreigners, with business groups warning about its potential impact on the tourism industry, which is slowly trying to recover after being battered by the COVID pandemic.

A previous attempt to introduce the code in 2019 was shelved after nationwide protests.

Bali, in particular, has traditionally been a top holiday destination, attracting millions of tourists every year. Shinta Widjaja Sukamdani, deputy chair of Indonesia’s Employers’ Association (APINDO), said the morality clauses would “do more harm than good”, especially for businesses engaged in tourism and hospitality.

She said: “For the business sector, the implementation of this law will create legal uncertainty and make investors reconsider investing in Indonesia.” Rights groups have warned that the legislation, which also bans expressing any views counter to Indonesia’s state ideology and criminalizes abortion, with the exception of rape victims, will have sweeping consequences for Indonesian society, police morality and increase discrimination.

According to a draft seen by Reuters, insulting the president, a charge that can only be reported by the president, carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison.

Andreas Harsono, from Human Rights Watch, said that hotels could be criminalized for hosting unmarried couples. He warned: “All hell will break loose.”

The draft has the support of some conservative Islamic groups, whose influence is growing across the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation.

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