Indonesia's parliament is expected to pass a new criminal code that will criminalize sex outside of marriage, with a penalty of up to a year in prison, officials have confirmed.
The legislative review will also ban insulting the president or state institutions and expressing any views contrary to Indonesia's state ideology. Cohabitation before marriage is also prohibited.
Decades in the making, the new criminal code is expected to be approved on December 15, Indonesia's Deputy Justice Minister Edward Omar Sharif Hiariej told Reuters.
"We are proud to have a penal code that is in line with Indonesian values, " he told Reuters.
Bambang Wuryanto, a lawmaker involved in the draft, said the new code could be approved as early as next week.
An earlier draft of the code was set to be adopted in 2019, but sparked nationwide protests. Tens of thousands of people demonstrated at the time against a series of laws, particularly those considered to regulate morality and free speech, which they said would restrict civil liberties.
Critics say minimal changes to the code have been made since then, although the government has held public consultations across the country in recent months to provide input on the changes.
The criminalization of abortion, except for rape victims, and the prison sentence for "black magic" remain in the code.
According to the latest draft dated Nov. 24, which was seen by Reuters, extramarital sex, which can only be reported by parties such as close relatives, carries a maximum sentence of one year.
Defamation of the president, a charge that can only be reported by the president, lasts a maximum of three years.
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation, has hundreds of regulations at the local level that discriminate against women, religious minorities and LGBTQ+ people.
