Indonesia to Ban Sex Outside of Marriage
2022-12-07
LRC
TXT
大字
小字
滚动
全页
1Indonesia's parliament on Tuesday voted for new laws to ban sex outside of marriage.
2The new measure also bans people from insulting the president and government.
3Once in force, the bans will affect foreign visitors as well as citizens.
4But a government official said the new laws will not be in place for several years.
5The amended law says sex outside marriage is punishable by a year in jail.
6 And unmarried couples living together will face six months in prison.
7The law keeps a previous ban on abortion, a medical procedure to end a pregnancy.
8But the changes add exceptions already provided in a 2004 Medical Practice Law, for women with life-threatening medical conditions and rape, provided that the fetus is less than 12 weeks old.
9Citizens could also face 10 years in prison for having links to Marxist-Leninist organizations and 4 years for spreading communism.
10The law still permits the death penalty, even though some groups pushed for its removal.
11It restores a ban on insulting a sitting president, vice president, as well as government or national ideology.
12Insults to a sitting president could lead up to three years in jail.
13The change expands an existing blasphemy law.
14It gives a five-year prison term for those who move away from Indonesia's six approved religions:
15Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism.
16Civil rights organizations criticized the new laws as overly broad and unclear.
17They said they will criminalize normal activities and threaten freedom of expression and privacy rights.
18Groups that support the rights of LGBTQ people in Indonesia were pleased with one change in the new law:
19sex between gay people is not included in the list of illegal acts.
20Indonesia's President Joko Widodo is expected to sign the new laws.
21Even if he does not sign it, they will take effect after 30 days.
22But Deputy Minister of Law and Human Rights for Indonesia Edward Hiariej said the law will not be enforced for up to three years.
23He noted that enforcement measures "must be worked out" and could not be done in one year.
24Indonesia's leaders tried to update the nation's criminal law in 2019.
25But Widodo asked lawmakers to delay the vote after nationwide protests.
26The protesters said the laws were discriminatory and the process for making the changes was unclear.
27The government called Tuesday's vote for the new law "a historic step" in Indonesia's independence from the Netherlands.
28The country has been independent since 1945 but Dutch administrators wrote many of the nation's laws.
29Andreas Harsono is a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. He said changes to the new Indonesian laws are dangerous.
30He said, "These laws let police extort bribes, let officials jail political foes."
31Harsono added that places like Bali and Jakarta will also risk losing foreign visitors because of the new laws.
32I'm Faith Pirlo.
1Indonesia's parliament on Tuesday voted for new laws to ban sex outside of marriage. The new measure also bans people from insulting the president and government. 2Once in force, the bans will affect foreign visitors as well as citizens. But a government official said the new laws will not be in place for several years. 3The amended law says sex outside marriage is punishable by a year in jail. And unmarried couples living together will face six months in prison. 4The law keeps a previous ban on abortion, a medical procedure to end a pregnancy. But the changes add exceptions already provided in a 2004 Medical Practice Law, for women with life-threatening medical conditions and rape, provided that the fetus is less than 12 weeks old. 5Citizens could also face 10 years in prison for having links to Marxist-Leninist organizations and 4 years for spreading communism. 6The law still permits the death penalty, even though some groups pushed for its removal. 7It restores a ban on insulting a sitting president, vice president, as well as government or national ideology. Insults to a sitting president could lead up to three years in jail. 8The change expands an existing blasphemy law. It gives a five-year prison term for those who move away from Indonesias six approved religions: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism. 9Civil rights organizations criticized the new laws as overly broad and unclear. They said they will criminalize normal activities and threaten freedom of expression and privacy rights. 10Groups that support the rights of LGBTQ people in Indonesia were pleased with one change in the new law: sex between gay people is not included in the list of illegal acts. 11Indonesia's President Joko Widodo is expected to sign the new laws. Even if he does not sign it, they will take effect after 30 days. 12But Deputy Minister of Law and Human Rights for Indonesia Edward Hiariej said the law will not be enforced for up to three years. He noted that enforcement measures "must be worked out" and could not be done in one year. 13Indonesia's leaders tried to update the nation's criminal law in 2019. But Widodo asked lawmakers to delay the vote after nationwide protests. The protesters said the laws were discriminatory and the process for making the changes was unclear. 14The government called Tuesday's vote for the new law "a historic step" in Indonesia's independence from the Netherlands. The country has been independent since 1945 but Dutch administrators wrote many of the nation's laws. 15Andreas Harsono is a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. He said changes to the new Indonesian laws are dangerous. He said, "These laws let police extort bribes, let officials jail political foes." 16Harsono added that places like Bali and Jakarta will also risk losing foreign visitors because of the new laws. 17I'm Faith Pirlo. 18Dan Friedell adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on a report by the Associated Press. 19_________________________________________________________________ 20Words in This Story 21penalty -n. a punishment 22ideology -n. the set of beliefs of a group 23blasphemy -n. something said or done that is disrespectful toward God 24LGBTQ -n. used to mean Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer 25extort -v. to get something (such as money) through a use of force or threats 26bribe -n. to ask someone to do an illegal or unethical act in exchange for money or a favir 27foe -n. an opponent or rival 28_________________________________________________________________ 29We want to hear from you. Do the new laws make you concerned about visiting Indonesia? 30We have a new comment system. Here is how it works: 31Each time you return to comment on the Learning English site, you can use your account and see your comments and replies to them. Our comment policy is here.