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Indonesian couple fear proposed ban on extramarital sex will make them criminals
- A new penal code to be discussed in Indonesia’s parliament would ban consensual sex outside marriage
- This would mean a middle-aged couple, who have been together for 13 years in an unofficial marriage, could face jail time
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After 13 years of happily unmarried life that has brought them three children, one middle-aged Indonesian couple is worried.
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Their relationship is neither legal nor official, and a controversial new penal code to be discussed in Indonesia’s parliament could make them criminals by banning consensual sex outside marriage.
Although President Joko Widodo ordered parliament to delay a vote on the legal changes last month after street protests, Indonesians who could be affected are increasingly worried.
“If the government brings up the unofficial marriage issue again, it will be a problem and will burden our minds,” said the husband, who works as a porter at a clothes market.
Both he and his wife declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, where conservatism has been on the rise.
The proposed revisions have raised fears in the tourism industry of the impact of a ban on extramarital sex, and Australia has even issued a pre-emptive warning to citizens.
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But millions of Indonesians living in unofficial relationships could be more likely targets.
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