JAKARTA, Dec 13: Indonesia’s vice minister of law and human rights on Monday (December 12) said foreign tourists and businesses will not be affected by the country’s newly-ratified criminal code, which criminalises sex outside marriage.
Speaking at a news conference, Eddy Hiariej said the revised laws on cohabitation and adultery would in fact prevent tourists from becoming the victims of vigilantism and public raids, which are not uncommon in the world’s largest Muslim community.
In a statement on Monday, Bali’s governor Wayan Koster also sought to reassure visitors to the island, which is the centre of tourism in Indonesia.
Bali’s government would ensure “there will be no checking on marital status upon check-in at any tourism accommodation, such as hotels, villas, apartments, guest houses, lodges and spas,” Wayan said.
Indonesia’s parliament last week passed the controversial bill that also prohibits cohabitation between unmarried couples. Decades in the making, legislators hailed the passage of the criminal code as a much-needed overhaul of a vestige of Dutch colonial rule. Officials say it aims to uphold “Indonesian values” in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation. – TVS
