JakartaPost-Dec 22, 2022
The new Criminal Code has grabbed headlines for making sex outside marriage illegal, but Islamic parties wanted even harsher punishment for moral crimes in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, accounts of behind-the-scenes negotiations reveal. The moral crimes are just one part of the legislative overhaul that the House of Representatives ratified this month, a 226-page set of new laws that critics say threaten civil liberties but officials defend as reflective of Indonesia’s identity. Behind the scenes, secular nationalist parties holding a majority in the legislature opposed the tighter laws on morality but risked being branded supportive of adultery if they remained unyielding in their opposition. What resulted was a compromise between political parties and the government, said Taufik Basari, a member of the House commission overseeing the changes. “We found a middle ground, not only between nationalists and religious parties but also between progressive liberals and conservatives,” he said. Indonesia’s tradition of pluralism and moderate Islam has been challenged by more conservative interpretations of the religion since the fall of authoritarian leader Suharto in 1998. The new Criminal Code, decades in the making to replace a colonial-era code, includes articles that ban insulting the president and state institutions and spreading views counter to state ideology Pancasila. The United Nations has warned the laws threaten media freedom, privacy and human rights.
The morality laws have drawn the most attention and criticism, but some officials said they would have been even stricter if the religious parties had their way. Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/paper/2022/12/22/politics-islam-find-compromise-in-kuhp.html
