The Draft Criminal Code (RKUHP) will be passed by the Indonesian Parliament (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat or known as DPR) in the near future. In the draft Criminal Code, there is a new regulation which regulates that sex outside of marriage or premarital sex in Indonesia is punishable by 1 year in prison.
This was confirmed at a working meeting between the Deputy Minister for Law and Human Rights and the Third Committee of the Indonesian Parliament, held in Senayan, Jakarta on Wednesday, November 9, 2022.
“Anyone who has intercourse with someone who is not husband or wife shall be punished for adultery with a maximum imprisonment of 1 (one) year or a maximum fine of category II,” reads article 413, paragraph 1.
This regulation can only apply if there is a complaint by a husband or wife for people who are bound by marriage or parents or children for people who are not bound by marriage.
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Cohabitation before marriage is also regulated in article 414, paragraph 1, which states:
“Anyone who lives together as husband and wife outside of marriage shall be punished with imprisonment for a maximum of 6 (six) months or a maximum fine of category II”.
However, to convict the perpetrators of cohabitation is not easy because it must be done with a complaint offense, those who have the right to complain are:
- The husband or wife of a person bound by marriage;
- Parents or children of persons not married.
“Complaints can be withdrawn as long as the examination at the trial court has not started,” states article 414, paragraph 4.
The Criminal Code currently in force in Indonesia is the French Napoleonic Code which came into effect in 1810. France then colonized the Netherlands, and in 1881 France imposed criminal laws on the Netherlands.
The Criminal Code was then brought by the Dutch to Indonesia when they colonized the archipelago. The Dutch colonial government also implemented the code nationally in 1918 under the name Wet Wetboek van Strafrecht.
Wet Wetboek van Strafrecht then superseded all existing laws in the archipelago, from customary law to religious penal law. Local values were also undermined by colonial law. The Declaration of Independence, proclaimed on August 17, 1945, did not immediately change the existing laws.
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