EPA

 

By Frances Mao
BBC News

Indonesia's parliament has approved a new criminal code that bans anyone in the country from having extramarital sex and restricts political freedoms.

 

Sex outside marriage will carry a jail term of up to a year under the new laws, which take effect in three years.

 

The raft of changes come after a rise in religious conservatism in the Muslim-majority country. Critics see the laws as a "disaster" for human rights, and a potential blow to tourism and investment.

 

Full story: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-63869078

 

-- © Copyright BBC 2022-12-07

9 minutes ago, webfact said:

Critics see the laws as a "disaster" for human rights, and a potential blow to tourism and investment.

Agree 100%.

Back about 30 years seemed it was better than Thailand for easy girls ( depending on where one was ).

For starters, what western unmarried couple will visit now?

Edited December 6, 20223 yr by thaibeachlovers

Well done Indonesia on taking the country well and truly back to the Middle ages with the usual suspect,  an out of date and backwards 7th century religious policy, not suited for the modern times.

 

Also, prison for anybody who voices an opinion that contradicts the President or the introduction of archaic laws by his out of touch government!

A Muslim country do I need to say more

I guess they only want married couples to visit. We’ll see how this goes. Hope they hit rock bottom soon. This is ridiculous. 

Medieval indeed. Apart from the chilling effect this will have on the 280 million people who have to live under such a regime, there’s a silver lining for Thai tourism -- any unmarried or same-sex couples (or married couples who simply value their privacy) who may have been considering an Indonesian beach for a holiday may now come here instead. Just like when, for decades, Indonesia (and Malaysia) barred foreign visitors from Israel, greatly boosting Israeli tourist arrivals in Thailand.

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

what western unmarried couple will visit now?

Those that subscribe to the it happens to other people not us brigade.

Until.it does?

Wonder if they would stop child marriages too, or would that effect horny mulsim men too much ? 

9 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

Wonder if they would stop child marriages too, or would that effect horny mulsim men too much ? 

I was thinking along similar lines, but was wondering if it included the sheep, goats, and cattle too.

I doubt they have sufficient square meterage of prison space to fully enforce the law.

So it's not only Thailand that passes unenforceable laws. How will the authorities catch unmarried people having sex? Hide in the wardrobe? Pathetic.

My experience of hotels in countries where gay sex is banned or really really not approved of is amusing. In Singapore (where gay sex has just been made legal a couple of weeks ago) I approach the front desk with our booking details, my Thai Khmer partner lurking behind. The polite young man behind the desk smiles politely and looks fixedly at his computer. After a couple of coughs he asks: "Will that be one bed or two, sir?" I reply: "One bed. Kingsize as booked." "Very well, sir".

 

And off we go.

53 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

So it's not only Thailand that passes unenforceable laws. How will the authorities catch unmarried people having sex? Hide in the wardrobe? Pathetic.

Same way as Saudi does.

1 hour ago, AhFarangJa said:

I was thinking along similar lines, but was wondering if it included the sheep, goats, and cattle too.

Asking for a friend ?

There are plenty of wives banning it inside marriage as well

4 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Agree 100%.

Back about 30 years seemed it was better than Thailand for easy girls ( depending on where one was ).

For starters, what western unmarried couple will visit now?

It won't affect tourist couples because police will only act on a complaint to them from a relative of the couple, so it's unlikely to affect anybody at all.

3 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

It won't affect tourist couples because police will only act on a complaint to them from a relative of the couple, so it's unlikely to affect anybody at all.

Bali will be the tester for that

2 hours ago, TheFishman1 said:

A Muslim country do I need to say more

Technically, a country that uses the cloak of Islam to execute it's own agenda.

 

Leaders using religion as an excuse is as old as religion itself.

2 hours ago, TheFishman1 said:

A Muslim country do I need to say more

Well, you could say that this is similar to the law in the Phillippines where sex between unmarried partners is illegal under the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines.

Keep in mind, a lot of these laws are meant to only be used to go after people the state does not like.

 

It's not as if they care if the couple are married.  But if they want to punish someone they don't like, they got one more tool.

You could not pay me to go to Indonesia. Tourists who do – get what they deserve.. Why go to a predominantly Muslim country that takes great pleasure in bombing Westerners????‍♂️????????????????

53 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

1 hour ago, Bangkok Barry said:

So it's not only Thailand that passes unenforceable laws. How will the authorities catch unmarried people having sex? Hide in the wardrobe? Pathetic.

Same way as Saudi does.

Which is? I'm curious.

This could benefit Thailand in a big way if strictly enforced.

 

Malaysia has a similar law called Khalwat but it doesn't seem to bother them much.

 

Section 115. Khalwat.
(1) Any male person who is found in retirement with and in suspicious proximity to any woman (whether or not professing the Muslim Religion) other than his wife or a woman whom by reason of consanguinity or affinity or fosterage he is forbidden by Muslim Law to marry, shall be guilty of Khalwat and shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding four months or to a fine exceeding two hundred dollars or, in the case of a second or subsequent offence, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding four hundred dollars.

(2) Any female person who is found in retirement with and in suspicious proximity to any man (whether or not professing the Muslim Religion) other than her husband or a man whom by reason of consanguinity or affinity or fosterage she is forbidden by Muslim Law to marry, shall be guilty of an offence and be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding four months or to a fine not exceeding two hundred dollars or, in the case of a second or subsequent offence, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding four hundred dollars.
 

1 hour ago, mrfill said:

Well, you could say that this is similar to the law in the Phillippines where sex between unmarried partners is illegal under the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines.

Do you happen to have the relevant law to share with us?

Another rise of "dictatorship". 

1 hour ago, soalbundy said:

Asking for a friend ?

.To be honest I have given up on the camels and goats as I have got older. The main reason is that all the good looking ones are younger and can out run me...

1 hour ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Which is? I'm curious.

Mutawa

Edited December 7, 20223 yr by thaibeachlovers

As a Muslim country Indonesia was very moderate. The women do not have to cover their hair or wear a hijab, they have Christian churches, alcohol is freely available, you can buy pork products, they have 'mens' clubs etc.

Now having said that this is definitely a backward step. However I dont think it will have any effect on tourism, we will have to wait and see?

27 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Mutawa

Who they are doesn't answer the point I made, which is how they would catch anyone having sex.

7 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Who they are doesn't answer the point I made, which is how they would catch anyone having sex.

Being found, or booked, in a room together is probably all the religious police require to start swinging their rattan batons and locking people up.

The evidentiary rule of law doesn't apply in these countries.

Edited December 7, 20223 yr by Old Croc