Indonesia has been taken aback by the international reaction to new laws that ban extramarital sex and unmarried cohabitation, and threaten free speech
Indonesia has moved to avoid a costly blowback from new laws criminalising sex outside marriage, insisting that visitors need not be concerned while urging other governments to refrain from “megaphone diplomacy”.
Under the revised criminal code, which replaces the colonial-era Dutch version enacted in 1918, pre-marital sex can be punished with as much as a year in jail and cohabitation by an unmarried couple can result in six months’ imprisonment. Adultery also remains a crime that carries a potential 12-month prison sentence.
“The new criminal code will be forced into effect in the next three years,” he said. “It should not interfere in [the] public’s life [or for] tourists, business and foreign investment as long as the implementation goes in line with reform of the new criminal law.” “We hope country representatives will not be in a hurry to state their opinions. They can use diplomatic channels to get information,” said spokesman Teuku Faizasyah.“We will not use megaphone diplomacy in such an issue because it is diplomatic ethics. Our representatives in other countries never meddle in the legal regulations in one country’s national legal system, although controversies emerged among their people.
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