Indonesia

Indonesia's parliament approved a new criminal code on Tuesday that bans sex outside marriage with a punishment of up to one year in jail, despite worries ...

New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) is "monitoring the impacts" of Indonesia's controversial revision of its penal code banning sex ...

"MFAT is monitoring the impacts of the new Code and will assess in due course whether additional information should be included in our travel advisory for Indonesia." Revision of the code, which is expected to take up to three years to take effect, will apply to citizens and visitors in the country alike. New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) is "monitoring the impacts" of Indonesia's controversial revision of its penal code banning sex outside marriage, which was approved yesterday.

Sweeping changes to Indonesia's criminal code come as Kiwis begin booking the first direct flights to Bali since the pandemic started.

The chairman of the Association of the Indonesian Tour and Travel Agencies in Bali, Putu Winastra, questioned how the new rules would be enforced, saying to CNN “Should we ask (overseas unmarried couples) if they are married or not? “As a parliamentarian, I will try to find more limitations for the implementation of these articles.” [sentenced to two and a half years in jail](https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/91575086/new-zealand-woman-jailed-for-25-years-in-bali-for-possessing-methamphetamine) after a plastic sachet containing 0.43 grams of methamphetamine fell out of her pocket at Bali’s Ngurah Airport. [sentenced to 15 years in jail](https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/69851018/antony-de-malmanche-sentenced-to-15-years-prison-on-drug-charge) after being caught with 1.8km of methamphetamine in his backpack at Denpasar Airport. [told The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/06/indonesia-passes-legislation-banning-sex-outside-marriage) a tourist could be arrested if they had consensual sex with an Indonesian national, and it was reported to police by the Indonesian’s parent or child. [restart its non-stop flights to Bali](https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/300725743/air-new-zealand-to-resume-direct-bali-flights) in March 2023, making the holiday hot spot more accessible for Kiwis than it has been in years. [obtained by The Associated Press](https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/300758519/indonesia-criminalises-adultery-and-extramarital-sex) said adultery charges must be based on police reports lodged by a spouse, parents or children. [After a year with hardly any tourists, Bali will reopen for foreign travel in February](https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/300508922/after-a-year-with-hardly-any-tourists-bali-will-reopen-for-foreign-travel-in-february?rm=a) [magnet for “digital nomads”](https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/kiwi-traveller/300675820/wake-up-somewhere-more-exotic-five-of-the-best-places-to-be-a-digital-nomad), and is hoping to attract more remote workers with its new five-year digital nomad visa. A spokesperson for the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) said the ministry is monitoring the impacts of the new code “and will assess in due course whether additional information should be included in our travel advisory for Indonesia”. [Indonesia criminalises adultery and extramarital sex](https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/300758519/indonesia-criminalises-adultery-and-extramarital-sex?rm=a) [passed a controversial revision](https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/300758519/indonesia-criminalises-adultery-and-extramarital-sex) of its criminal code which makes extramarital sex punishable by a year in prison for citizens and overseas visitors alike.

The new code, which will apply to Indonesians and foreigners alike, also prohibit cohabitation between unmarried couples. It will also ban insulting the ...

"The process has not been democratic at all." "The old code belongs to Dutch heritage ... The new code, which will apply to Indonesians and foreigners alike, also prohibit cohabitation between unmarried couples. Other laws include bans on black magic. Maulana Yusran, deputy chief of Indonesia's tourism industry board, said the new code was "totally counter-productive" at a time when the economy and tourism were starting to recover from the pandemic. "The aim is to protect the institution of marriage and Indonesian values, while at the same time being able to protect the privacy of the community and also negate the rights of the public or other third parties to report this matter or 'playing judge' on behalf of morality," he said.

The Indonesian Government in Jakarta has passed long-expected changes to its criminal code, which will affect both locals and visitors to the country.

Prior to the pandemic Bali was praised by Jakarta as an engine for international travel. This has helped a large tourism industry to thrive on the island. There will now be a three year introductory period which will bring the new legal framework into effect across the 17,000 islands that make up Indonesia. However there are a raft of other measures including laws against unmarried couples cohabiting that could have implications for tourism businesses. Article 411 of the new criminal code will not come into effect for the next three years, at least. There are also concerns that same-sex couples may be impacted, as Indonesia does not recognise same-sex marriage.

Indonesia's new criminal code outlawing sex outside marriage and potentially curbing free speech will apply to citizens and foreigners in the country, ...

Indonesian authorities have said Patek was successfully reformed in prison and they will use him to influence other militants to turn away from terrorism.

Patek was sentenced to 20 years in prison a decade after the bombing. Indonesia executed three Islamic militants by firing squad at Nusakambangan prison in November 2008 for involvement in the Bali bombings. Patek expressed remorse during his trial, saying he helped make the bombs but did not know how they would be used. The attacks killed 202 people — mostly foreign tourists — including 88 Australians, leaving a deep scar in that country. “We lost 88 Australian lives in those bombings.” Most recently, he was granted a five-month reduction on August 17, Indonesia's Independence Day.

The revised criminal code which has been approved this week by the Indonesian parliament is getting the kind of publicity rarely given to arcane changes in another country's legal system. Headlines around the world are warning tourists visiting Indonesia ...

"This is one of the most dangerous part of the new criminal code. This originated in the idea that customary law, known in Indonesia as adat, which still governs some aspects of life in parts of the country, should be incorporated to prevent conflicts between it and the official criminal code. It is not about your sex life, they have been writing, but our civil rights. Evi Mariani, at the public journalism group Project Multatuli, has posted her concern on Twitter about the threat to journalists from article 263, which stipulates a four-year prison sentence for anyone found guilty of spreading news which is suspected of being false and causing public disturbances. The revised criminal code which has been approved this week by the Indonesian parliament is getting the kind of publicity rarely given to arcane changes in another country's legal system. Human rights groups have identified 17 articles which they believe threaten the freedoms won since the return to democratic rule in the 1990s.

Planning a Bali holiday? Here's what we know about the new laws and what they mean for travellers and the LGBTQI+ community.

He also said that Bali has long had a thriving gay scene in the areas popular for tourists. Harsono said it could result in authorities asking hotels and villas for bribes to look the other way. Same-sex marriage is not recognised in Indonesia and LGBTQI+ people have long been victimised for their sexual identity. Yet it’s unlikely the laws banning sex outside marriage and cohabitation will be enforced broadly, according to Andreas Harsono of Human Rights Watch. “That is the most possible scenario where we’ll see the laws enforced.” The laws will also not come into force for another three years.

Patek was serving a 20 year sentence for his role in the 2002 attacks that killed 202 people from 21 countries.

Patek was also convicted over other charges related to a series of bombings in Jakarta in 2000 that targeted Christmas Eve church services and killed 19 people. The Bali attacks were the worst in Indonesian history and led to a crackdown on hardline groups such as JI. Indonesia has released on parole Umar Patek, convicted for his role in the Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people in 2002, after he completed just more than half of his sentence.

Indonesia's sweeping reforms to its colonial-era criminal code have been denounced as a crackdown on civil liberties and political freedoms.

for example the insult provision," Madrim said. "Having a permit means you need authorities' approval … Every news item certainly needs to be verified," he said. "There is an article about fake news. "Not to mention other [parts of the code] that have the potential to interfere with the work of journalists and have the opportunity to criminalise journalists ... "In my opinion this is an article that has the potential to be used to charge journalists, because the definition of news is already regulated in the press law." "The boundaries of contempt of court are unclear." "In [the] lead-up to the election in 2024, this will be the momentum to reinvigorate the political culture of satire." He told the ABC the ratification of the new code was "evidence that both Indonesian government and parliament were once again not listening to the aspirations of the public". "It will be difficult for us to convey our aspirations, to express ourselves and criticise the government because to hold a demonstration we now need a permit," he told the ABC. As a comedian, Ma'ruf felt some of the articles related to freedom of expression would curb creativity, particularly in "developing and improving" political satire. "In the area of freedom of expression, there's concern around the defamation articles that make it an offence to defame the president and vice-president, governments, state institutions and public authorities," she told the ABC.

The Indonesian parliament passed a new criminal code on December 6, 2022, containing provisions that seriously violate international human rights law and ...

[interpreted](https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/09/18/indonesia-draft-criminal-code-disastrous-rights) to include hukum adat (customary criminal law) and Sharia (Islamic law) regulations at the local level. Articles 463-464 provide that a woman who aborted her pregnancy can be sentenced for up four years in prison (exceptions include a case where a woman is a victim of the crime of rape or sexual violence that causes pregnancy whose gestational age does not exceed 14 weeks; or a case where there are indications of a medical emergency). Anyone who attempts to persuade a person to be a non-believer in a religion or belief can be prosecuted and jailed, a serious setback to protecting freedom of religion and belief in Indonesia. Article 412 provides that couples who live together “as husband and wife” without being legally married can be sentenced to six months in prison. Article 304 states that if a believer becomes a non-believer, that is apostasy and that anyone who attempts to persuade a person to be a non-believer is committing a crime. Article 190 states that anyone who seeks to replace Pancasila as the state ideology will be sentenced up to five years in prison. The law contains dozens of other articles on online and offline criminal defamation, making it possible for anyone to report anyone else for criminal defamation. “Passage of this criminal code is the beginning of an unmitigated disaster for human rights in Indonesia,” Harsono said. Articles in the new code violate the rights of women, religious minorities, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, and undermine rights to freedom of speech and association. Moreover, articles in the law maintain the criminalization of abortion with some exceptions, and now also criminalize distributing information about contraception to children and providing information about obtaining an abortion to anyone, which especially harms women and girls. “In one fell swoop, Indonesia’s human rights situation has taken a drastic turn for the worse, with potentially millions of people in Indonesia subject to criminal prosecution under this deeply flawed law.” When Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo visits Europe next week for a summit between heads of government of the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), EU leaders should strongly voice their opposition to the new law, said Human Rights Watch.

This deeply flawed new criminal code is likely to meet with stiff opposition from lawyers and activists. This might include protests and even court ...

This deeply flawed new criminal code is likely to meet with stiff opposition from lawyers and activists, including protests, even though the new code bans “unannounced demonstrations”. The new code contains provisions that criminalise insulting public officials, including the president and members of the government. The code introduces increased restrictions on religion and religious life that will strengthen and expand the bases on which minority religious groups can be persecuted. This is a flagrant attempt to reinstate those provisions, empowering the government to crack down on its opponents. It is also feared the new law will be used to target gay and lesbian people, who cannot marry under Indonesian law. One positive change in the new code is the introduction of a probationary period for death sentences. The second is even more dangerous for journalists. This means they cannot apply unless a close member of the family – a husband or wife, a parent or child – report the matter to the police. In other words, an offence is committed if the official is insulted, even if the allegations are true. There is more concern about the impact of these provisions on Indonesians, especially young couples. One punishes extramarital sex with up to a year in prison, and the other says couples who live together without being legally married also face jail. In fact, the last time legislators tried in 2019, it triggered the largest public protests in Indonesia since the 1998 fall of former president Soeharto.

Indonesia has released on parole Umar Patek, a bomb maker in the deadly 2002 Bali attacks, the Ministry of Law and Human Rights said on Wednesday.

Patek was the last of the accused to stand trial in Indonesia. “I’m particularly thinking right now of the families of those who were killed and injured in the Bali bombings.” If any violation is discovered during that time, his parole will be revoked, the ministry added.

Umar Patek has expressed regret for his role in the 2002 attacks, but his parole has been greeted with anger in Australia, which lost 88 citizens in the ...

[television interview](https://thediplomat.com/2022/08/indonesia-considers-objection-to-bali-bombers-early-release/) that month, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described Patek as “abhorrent” and said his early release will cause further distress to Australians who were directly affected by the attack. “My mistake was to be involved with the Bali bombing,” he said in a For their own part, the Indonesian authorities claim that Patek has undergone a program for reforming convicted extremists, and will be used to help deradicalize other young militants. But they were 95 percent done with the project.” The most recent of these came in August, when Patek was [granted a sentence reduction](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/18/bali-bomb-maker-umar-patek-could-be-released-from-prison-in-indonesia) on Indonesia’s Independence Day. Specifically, he was found guilty of helping build a car bomb used in the attack.

Foreigners in Indonesia should not worry about getting prosecuted for potentially breaching the country's new criminal code that penalizes sex outside of ...

A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia's West Java province on Thursday, the country's geophysics agency (BMKG) said, prompting residents in areas near ...

Register for free to Reuters and know the full story Tremors were also felt in the capital Jakarta and surrounding areas, Reuters witnesses said. The quake, with an epicentre 22 km (13.67 miles) from the city of Sukabumi, had no potential to trigger a tsunami and struck at a depth of 104 km, the agency said.