Is it true that Indonesia has banned sex outside of marriage?

In December, many media outlets wrote about Indonesia's adoption of a new criminal code, which, among other things, punishes sex between unmarried people. We decided to check if this is true.

Almost all major media outlets wrote about the new rules in Indonesia. In Russia this was also reported “Kommersant", and the agency "Interfax", And RBC. The news spread all over the world: it appeared on BBC, Reuters, CNN And AP. It appeared everywhere unchanged: in Indonesia, extramarital sex will now be prohibited, the punishment for violation is six months in prison.

On December 6, 2022, the Indonesian Parliament unanimously accepted new criminal code. The Code went through several editions and by this date had taken its final form. The new criminal code should have been approved back in 2019, but then some scandalous provisions of the document led to mass protests in the country. The greatest outrage was caused by new articles that made sex between unmarried people a criminal offense. As a result, the code was never adopted.

In Indonesia, where the majority of the population is Muslim, laws have been tightened gradually and not everywhere. The most severe rules were adopted in the province of Aceh: extramarital affairs, alcohol and any gambling were prohibited there. In addition, the practice of public corporal punishment for offenders is widespread in the province.

Now the code, not much different from the 2019 draft, approved, and it did not cause such massive protests. The document covers more than 200 pages, and it full and final version, adopted on December 6, and in fact there are articles punishing extramarital (or premarital) relationships. The first part of Article 412 of Indonesia's new penal code states: "Whoever lives as husband and wife outside of marriage shall be sentenced to imprisonment of not more than six months or a fine." This does not apply to adultery: for it, the next article specifies a more severe punishment - up to a year in prison, if the deceived spouse declares this.

The code clarifies that premarital sex can be reported by the parents of one or both lovers. But this is not a prerequisite. Therefore, it is still not clear whether severe punishment will apply to unmarried tourists who come on vacation, for example, to the island of Bali, famous for its resorts. IN previous version The code that is still in force does not contain such clauses. There, however, there was an article on punishment for adultery (Article 284, up to nine months in prison). But nothing was said about extramarital affairs between people who were not committed. 

The only slight inaccuracy was in the headlines, which described the ban as an accomplished event. The code has not yet been approved by the president of the republic, and when this formal procedure is completed, there will be another three years of transition period, after which the code will finally become the law in force in Indonesia.

Cover photo: Indonesian Parliament/Wikimedia Commons

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