Indonesia’s lurch to the right – MPs have approved a new criminal code that makes sex outside of marriage punishable by up to a year in prison, and includes a ban on insulting the president and speaking out against state ideology – has drawn sharp criticism from human rights groups.
The code – which will apply to both Indonesians and foreigners – includes several ‘morality’ laws which make it illegal for unmarried couples to live together and have sex, the BBC reports.
Rights groups say this disproportionately affects women, LGBT people, and ethnic minorities in the country.
They also warn that the new code, which reportedly will not come into effect for another three years, also suppresses political expression and clamps down on religious freedom.
The BBC reports that there are six blasphemy laws in the code, including apostasy – renouncing a religion. For the first time since its independence, Indonesia will make it illegal to persuade someone to be a non-believer.
New defamation articles also make it illegal for people to insult the president or express opinions against the national ideology.
While legislators said they had added defences for free speech and protests made in the ‘public interest’, Human Rights Watch said the new code’s provisions were a ‘disaster’ for human rights.
The rights group’s Asia Director Elaine Pearson told the BBC it was a ‘huge setback for a country that has tried to portray itself as a modern Muslim democracy’.
Indonesia is home to several religions but the majority of its 267 million people are Muslim. Since the country’s democratic transition in 1998, it follows a creed known as Pancasila, which does not prioritise any faith but does not accept atheism. However, local law in many areas of the country is informed by religious values.
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