Indonesia set to ratify changes to criminal code

JAKARTA: Indonesia is expected to ratify changes to its criminal code on Tuesday December 6 senior officials confirmed, in a legal overhaul that critics say could wind back hard-won democratic freedoms and police morality in the Southeast Asian nation.

Some of the most controversial changes to the code are articles that would penalise sex outside marriage with up to a year in jail, outlaw cohabitation between unmarried couples, insulting the president, and expressing views counter to the national ideology, known as the Pancasila.

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, and Bambang Wuryanto, head of the parliamentary commission overseeing the revision, told Reuters on Monday that Parliament would hold a plenary session on Tuesday to ratify the new code.

The House of Representatives and the government have agreed on a draft code, clearing a hurdle to its passage.

The revision of the country's colonial-era penal code has sparked mass protests in recent years, although the response has been somewhat muted this year.

The new code was to be ratified in September 2019 but nationwide demonstrations over threats to civil liberties halted its passage.

Legislators in the world's third largest democracy have watered down some of the articles that are considered most contentious.

Such articles on sex outside marriage and cohabitation, for example, now state such complaints can only be reported by close relatives, such as a spouse, parent or child, while insulting the president can only be reported.

But legal experts and civil society groups say the changes don't go far enough.

This criminal code is a huge setback for Indonesia, said Bivitri Susanti, a law expert from the University of Indonesia.

She said that the state cannot manage morality. The duty of the government is not to be an umpire between conservative and liberal Indonesia. Articles on customary law, blasphemy, protesting without notification and expressing views divergent from the Pancasila were all legally problematic because they could be widely interpreted, she said.

The new code will come into effect after three years as the government and related institutions draft related implementing regulations.