WEDLOCKED

Indonesia Set to Criminalize Sex Outside of Marriage

The new crime will be punishable by up to a year in jail.

A radical overhaul of the criminal code in Indonesia will make sex outside of marriage punishable by up to a year in prison, officials say. The new rules, which are expected to pass this month, will also ban cohabitation before marriage and outlaw insulting the Indonesian president, state institutions, or state ideology. “We're proud to have a criminal code that’s in line with Indonesian values,” Edward Omar Sharif Hiariej, Indonesia’s deputy justice minister, told Reuters. The extreme criminal code, which is expected to be approved on Dec. 15, would apply equally to both Indonesian citizens and foreigners, sparking fears about damage to Indonesia’s reputation as a vacation spot and investment location. Some Islamic groups in Indonesia—the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country—have supported the draft code as the country has moved increasingly toward conservatism in recent years.