The new amendments to the Indonesian Criminal Code, including those criminalizing extramarital sex, actually repeat the norm that already existed in the country, and also specifically designate a ban for foreigners, lawyer Oleg Orlov, who works in Indonesia, told The Insider. The lawyer recalled that the President did not finally sign the law ratified by the Parliament. At the same time, if it is adopted, a criminal case can be initiated under the new article either at the request of one of the spouses on the fact of infidelity, or at the request of their parents or children. The personal presence of the applicant is mandatory.
“Everyone is afraid for tourists, a wave has risen in connection with the news that sex outside of marriage is subject to criminal liability. I can say that in fact there is nothing new in this, this provision and norm existed before. It's just that it was not performed, since it is a kind of anachronism that stretched from ancient times and was partly justified by certain religious and cultural components.
The norm stated the responsibility for cohabitation. A citizen of any country in Indonesia is automatically subject to local law, so the rule applied to everyone before, but no one was “captured”. The scandal has now risen because they began to accept changes to the old decree, create new norms, and indeed, there were many points that needed to be discussed. If you read the amendments carefully, we will see that criminal liability for adultery is introduced, it applies to family people. And, most importantly, it says that any criminal offense can be initiated for some reason, for example, if a murder is committed, a corpse is found and an investigation is underway.
In Russian legislation there are private, private-public and public prosecution. This means someone can initiate a criminal case. Previously, there was an article “Beatings”, and the case was initiated on the basis of a statement from the victim. This article in Indonesia has approximately the same effect, that is, either the spouse, or the spouse, or the girl's parents can initiate a case of adultery. For law enforcement officers to simply come because of this with a search of the hotel: “Everyone stand, be afraid, the riot police are working,” this cannot be. The case is not initiated on the basis of verification and is not initiated from the application of any uninvolved person.
If we imagine that a Russian woman calls the police in Bali about her husband's infidelity, it is formally possible to initiate a case. But in Indonesia there are requirements of procedural law – the application must be submitted personally to the station, that is, the spouse must appear at the police station, the victim will be interrogated immediately. It is difficult to do this remotely, so some theoretical threat of such events is possible, but extremely unlikely. Still, everything related to tourism in Bali and Indonesia is protected. The state understands that this is one of the main sources of income in Bali. In Russia, as early as the end of the 19th century, Count Witte said: "The severity of Russian laws is mitigated by the optionality of their implementation." So, about the same situation in Bali.
Everything is spelled out in the Criminal Code, but I don’t think that it will somehow begin to be applied to foreigners, because this is not beneficial to anyone. There are certain restrictions – if the first comer writes a statement, a raid where everyone is put face down on the floor will not happen. The enactment of a normative act may take time, or it may be adopted from the moment of its signing or from a certain date. There are a lot of other nuances that do not concern tourists, but are related to political freedoms, but this is a matter of Indonesian internal politics.”
On December 6, the Indonesian Parliament adopted an amendment to the Criminal Code, which, among other things, criminalizes extramarital sex for both citizens of the country and for foreigners and tourists. The Associated Press has reviewed a copy of the new Criminal Code, as amended. Also, the new edition of the Criminal Code provides for punishment for adultery, blasphemy against Islam and insulting the head of state. The death penalty is retained in the country, but now the judge will not be able to immediately pass a sentence. If within 10 years the convict behaves well, then the execution will be replaced by life imprisonment or 20 years in prison.