A hand covering the mouth: more and more Indonesians are sharing images of this gesture on social networks. It is a protest against new laws that the Indonesian parliament approved on Tuesday. They make unmarried cohabitation and premarital sex a criminal offence, but residents fear the impact will be much greater.
On Tuesday morning, with a hammer blow, the parliament unanimously adopted the new penal code. The more than six hundred articles of the law establish, among other things, that it is forbidden to insult the president. The same goes for adultery and organizing demonstrations without permission.
Implementation of all these laws takes time. They should enter into force within three years at the latest. That sounds like a long time, but three years isn’t too bad when you consider that Indonesia has been working on a new penal code for decades.
The current code of law dates back to the time when Indonesia was a Dutch colony. It had already been drafted in 1918. Indonesia thought it was time for an update to distance itself from colonial history. The Deputy Minister of Justice told the news agency Reuters be proud of their laws which now “match Indonesian values”. But not all Indonesians are so happy.
Young people and students in particular see it as a significant setback rather than a step forward. This was already clear in 2019, when the Indonesian government also tried to adopt the new laws. That was taken care of big protestswhich resulted in several deaths and hundreds of injured protesters and police officers.
Due to all the unrest, Indonesian President Joko Widodo has decided to postpone the vote on amendments to the law. He also promised that the most criticized parts would be reviewed. But in response to Tuesday’s news, human rights organizations and protesters say their criticisms have not been heard.
For this, in particular, young Indonesians gather in the parliament of the capital Jakarta. In protest, they cover their mouths with their hands or tape them over. They want to show that they think they have been silenced.
Many people on Instagram and Twitter are joining the action. Like Ahmad Sajali, who posed for a photo in front of the Indonesian parliament with his hand over his mouth. He says he is furious that the laws have been passed. “It will really affect our private lives and make Indonesians much less free in what they can do,” he says via Instagram.
People post hashtag #SemuaBisaKena with photos, which means “everyone can be punished.” “It really is,” says Sajali. “With the new laws, criticizing the president and the government can be seen as an insult, something you can go to jail for. The new code just takes away our freedom of speech.”
The new laws are in line with a trend that human rights organizations have been warning about for some time. Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world with 276 million inhabitants. Political Islam plays an increasingly important role in daily life.
For example, strict Islamic laws already exist in Aceh province. People are punished for drinking and gambling. And people who have same-sex sex get caned, the BBC last year.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) had previously warned that what is now standard in Aceh could apply to the whole country in the future. “Radical Islam is really growing in Indonesia, you can’t ignore it anymore,” said HRW’s Andreas Harsono. The New York Times.
The new laws therefore also seem to concern the LGBTQ+ community in Indonesia. There is already a nationwide ban on same-sex marriage. As sex before and outside of marriage is also now becoming illegal, being LGBTIQ+ freely is virtually impossible.
The exact impact on foreigners and tourists is still unclear. In an effort to allay fears, the new law states that only close relatives can report you. As a result, Indonesians themselves appear to be particularly affected.
But people working in the tourism sector worry that the new laws are still discouraging tourists. “We deeply regret that the government is not taking these concerns seriously,” Maulana Yusran, head of the tourism industry association, told the news agency. Reuters. “We have expressed our concern about how harmful this law is.”
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