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Sex in Indonesia

Tourists visiting Indonesia will no longer be able to freely indulge in sex with local women or risk jail term.

On Tuesday, Indonesia parliament unanimously approved a new controversial criminal code, packed with sweeping changes that included outlawing sex outside marriage and cohabitation.

Some of the most controversial articles in the newly passed code are criminalising premarital and extramarital sex, as well as the cohabitation of unmarried couples.

The new code replaces a framework that had been in use since independence in 1946 and was a mix of Dutch law, customary law known as hukum adat, and modern Indonesian law.

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The new laws apply to Indonesians and foreigners and also restore a ban on insulting the president, state institutions or Indonesia’s national ideology known as Pancasila.

The approval comes even as business groups warned it could harm Indonesia’s image as a tourism and investment destination.

There are also fears these rules could have a major impact on the LGBTQ community in Indonesia where gay marriage is not allowed.

The planned code sparked nationwide student-led protests when a full draft was released in September 2019, amid fears it would curtail personal freedoms.

The new code must still be signed by the president, according to Deputy Minister of Law and Human Rights Edward Hiariej. It will also not apply immediately, with the transition from the old code to the new one expected to take a maximum of three years.

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