Although these changes are not expected to take effect until at least 2025, many foreign media analyzed that the "new criminal code" may damage Indonesia's international reputation, prevent foreigners from traveling to Indonesia, and make them lose important tourism income.

On December 6th local time, Indonesia passed a controversial criminal law amendment .

According to the BBC (BBC), the most controversial clause of the "New Criminal Code" is that cohabitation before marriage and extramarital sex will be held criminally responsible, which not only applies to residents of Indonesian , but also to foreign tourists.

Although these changes are not expected to take effect until at least 2025, many foreign media analyzed that the "new criminal code" may damage Indonesia's international reputation, prevent foreigners from traveling to Indonesia, and make them lose important tourism income.

Participation of cohabitation before marriage and extramarital sex acts is sentenced to

The passage of the Indonesian Criminal Law Amendment was not smooth.

Indonesia's current criminal law is still a criminal law formulated after Indonesia broke away from the colonial rule of Dutch in 1946. The Indonesian government has been working to amend the criminal law for decades, submitting a draft amendment to the criminal law in 2019, but triggering nationwide protests in the country, a process that had to be postponed for several years and was finally adopted on December 6 this year.

Compared with the current criminal law, the amendment to the Criminal Law includes many new clauses, including cohabitation before marriage and extramarital sex. Specifically, extramarital sex is classified as a criminal offence and can be sentenced to up to one year in prison; unmarried cohabitation may be sentenced to six months in prison; and women who perform induced abortions other than victims of rape may face four years in prison.

The above terms apply not only to Indonesians, but also to foreigners and foreign tourists living in Indonesia. However, the police will accept the above behavior only if the children, parents or spouse accused of the above behavior. The Criminal Law Amendment will come into effect three years later, and it is not clear how it will be implemented.

On the day the Criminal Law Amendment was reviewed and passed, Indonesian Minister of Law and Human Rights Yasenal Law Lawley said that citizens have the democratic right to express their opinions. If they have objections to the passage of the Criminal Law Amendment, they can file a lawsuit with the country's Constitutional Court.

Indonesia's law on criminalizing cohabitation and extramarital sex acts before marriage and sexual intercourse outside marriage has been described by many foreign media as "moral law". According to the US " Times ", Indonesia is not the only country to implement strict moral laws. Muslim countries such as Malaysia , Brunei and Nigeria also regulate all aspects of public and private life based on religious values. Of course, these regulations are not unique to Muslim countries. Some states in the United States even have laws prohibiting adultery, but they are rarely enforced.

The amendment to the Criminal Law is the result of compromise between multiple parties

Why was the amendment to the Indonesian Criminal Law passed this year? Outside analysis said that this is the result of compromise between different political groups in Indonesia.

Jief Wu, an associate researcher at the Rajarnan Institute of International Studies in Singapore, told Singapore News Network Online Today that the Indonesian government, nationalist parties, religious groups and criminal law officials in the parliament all hope to achieve their goals. The government hopes to have more legal tools to act when protests disrupt the public interest, nationalist parties want to punish those who spread contrary to the state's ideology, religious groups want to add provisions that reflect Islamic values, such as prohibition of extramarital sex can be reflected in the new legislation, and for criminal law experts, they want to modernize the criminal code previously promulgated by Dutch colonists.

Local time on December 8, 2022, in Bali, Indonesia, a pair of foreign tourists were preparing to take photos on the bamboo deck. Photo/Visual China

Southeast Asian Institute Senior visiting scholar Maxwell Lane specifically pointed out the terms of criminalization of extramarital sexual behavior. He said the demand was proposed by the Islamic party Justice Welfare Party (PKS), which other parties support the party’s demands or because other parties believe that the party may be needed in future government alliances.

Indonesian tourism industry practitioners expressed concerns

After the amendment was officially passed, the clauses that extramarital sex and premarital cohabitation and applicable to foreign tourists caused huge controversy at home and abroad.

Some critics said that the move will affect Indonesia's international reputation, crack down on foreign tourists' enthusiasm for travel to Indonesia, and cause a heavy blow to the country's tourism industry.

According to Bloomberg, US Ambassador to Indonesia Kim Sung said in a speech on Jakarta on December 6 that many companies will also regard the addition of new legal provisions as an important consideration for whether to invest in Indonesia. Indonesia's move "is likely to lead to a decrease in foreign investment, tourism and travel."

Some Indonesian tourism practitioners have expressed concerns about the amendment to the Criminal Law. Maurana Yuslan, vice chairman of the Indonesian Tourism Commission, said that the criminal law amendment was "completely counterproductive" as the economy and tourism industry began to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic; Putu Venastra, chairman of the Bali Tourism and Travel Agency Association of Indonesia, called on the government to clarify how the new regulations will be implemented and whether couples traveling to Indonesia must issue certificates of their marriage.

In addition, Yuman, a tour guide who has been working for Bali since 2017, told the BBC that Bali's tourism industry is recovering hard and the criminal law amendment may affect the number of tourists traveling to Bali.

On December 4, 2022, local time, a large-scale eruption occurred in Lumajiang, East Java, Indonesia. Photo/IC photo

" Bali bombing , Mount Semeru and other volcanoes erupted, coupled with the measures of the new crown epidemic, Bali's tourism industry is already very vulnerable to impact." Yuman said that the new provisions added to the Criminal Law Amendment may make Indonesia's tourism industry worse, and this is even more so for a resort island like Bali. "I am very worried because I really rely on the tourism industry to survive."

However, Indonesian authorities defended the amendment. Yasenal Lawley said it was a new bill that reflects Indonesia's "public aspirations". For a multicultural and multi-ethnic country, it is not easy to formulate a criminal law that "takes into account all interests."

Indonesian Ministry of Justice spokesman Albert Aris said that the clauses in the amendment to the Criminal Law involving premarital sex and premarital cohabitation are restricted by the whistleblower, and the parents, spouses or children of suspected offenders are valid for reporting. German media Deutsche Voice interpreted it, which means that Indonesian authorities repeatedly stress that these provisions will not actually affect foreign tourists’ inbound tourism, but many rights activists warn that if foreigners have relationships with locals, they may still be bound by the law.

Beijing News reporter Zhu Yuehong

editor Zhang Lei Proofreading Li Lijun