Why can't governments keep out of people's personal sex lives?

Anything and everything about gay life anywhere in the world, especially Asia, other than Thailand.
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Why can't governments keep out of people's personal sex lives?

Post by Gaybutton »

Once again, folks, sex is something bad and governments want to try to regulate it by punishing anybody caught engaging in sex in a manner the government does not approve. This time it's Indonesia outlawing extra-marital sex. I suppose that means if I am in Indonesia and have a sexual encounter with a man (which is probably illegal in the first place) who turns out to be married, now I can be held criminally liable because I engaged in extra-marital sex.

Cancel my flight to Indonesia.
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Indonesian parliament approves legislation to outlaw extra-marital sex

December 6, 2022

Yasonna Laoly, Indonesian Minister of Law and Human Rights, receives the new criminal code report from Bambang Wuryanto, head of the parliamentary commission overseeing the revision, during a parliamentary plenary meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Tuesday. (Reuters photo)

Indonesia's parliament approved Tuesday legislation that would outlaw pre-marital sex while making other sweeping changes to the criminal code -- a move critics deemed as a setback to the country's freedoms.

After the controversial new criminal code received the majority of votes from lawmakers during the plenary session, deputy house speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad banged the gavel to signal the text was approved and shouted "legal".

Rights groups had protested against the amendments, denouncing a crackdown on civil liberties and a shift towards fundamentalism in the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation.

"We have tried our best to accommodate the important issues and different opinions which were debated. However, it is time for us to make a historical decision on the penal code amendment and to leave the colonial criminal code we inherited behind," Yasonna Laoly, Minister of Law and Human Rights, told parliament.

Some of the most controversial articles in the newly passed code are criminalising premarital and extra-marital sex, as well as the cohabitation of unmarried couples.

There are also fears these rules could have a major impact on the LGBTQ community in Indonesia where gay marriage is not allowed.

The spokesperson of the Law and Human Rights Ministry's criminal code bill dissemination team, Albert Aries, defended the amendments before the vote and said the law would protect marriage institutions.

He said acts of pre-marital and extra-marital sex could only be reported by a spouse, parents or children, limiting the scope of the amendment.

But rights groups slammed the legislation as morality policing and activists denounced it as a crackdown on civil and political freedoms.

A revision of Indonesia's criminal code, which stretches back to the Dutch colonial era, has been debated for decades.

Rights groups say the proposals underscore a growing shift towards fundamentalism in a country long hailed for its religious tolerance, with secularism enshrined in its constitution.

"We are going backward... repressive laws should have been abolished but the bill shows that the arguments of scholars abroad are true, that our democracy is indisputably in decline," Amnesty International Indonesia director Usman Hamid told AFP.

About a hundred people protested against the bill Monday and unfurled a yellow banner that read "reject the passing of the criminal code revision", with some dropping flower petals on the banner as is done for a funeral.

Abdul Ghofar, a campaigner of Indonesia's environmental group WALHI, said the symbolic acts signified the public's "grief" over the impending passage of the revision.

Another protest to reject the new law is scheduled to be held on Tuesday in front of the parliament building.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/24541 ... arital-sex
Jun

Re: Why can't governments keep out of people's personal sex lives?

Post by Jun »

Well, to answer your question, I suspect religion is behind it.

I know people who were going to Bali every year, followed by Thailand. They were having as much fun with the boys there as they would in Pattaya. If the Indonesians actually start enforcing these laws, it would be rather inconvenient.
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Re: Why can't governments keep out of people's personal sex lives?

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How Indonesia's new sex laws will affect tourists

by Heather Chen and Masrur Jamaluddin, CNN

December 7, 2022

(CNN) — International travelers have been flocking back to the popular resort island of Bali as the Covid pandemic subsides, prompting hopes that Indonesia's battered tourism industry is on the road to recovery.

But this week, controversial new laws were passed in parliament that ban cohabitation and sex outside marriage. The laws will apply not just to residents but also to foreign expats and tourists in the country -- raising concerns from experts.

Although the changes are not expected to kick in for at least another three years, industry players tell CNN that the new criminal code could put foreigners off visiting and hurt the country's global reputation, starving it of vital tourism revenues.

A turnaround for travel operators

"From our point of view as tourism industry players, this law will be very counterproductive for the tourism industry in Bali -- particularly the chapters about sex and marriage," said Putu Winastra, chairman of the country's largest tourism group, the Association of The Indonesian Tours And Travel Agencies (ASITA).

The new laws are seen as response to rising religious conservatism in Muslim-majority Indonesia in recent years, with parts of the country enforcing strict Islamic codes. In Bali, the population is predominantly Hindu and as a result has tended to have a more liberal social environment that appeals to Western tourists.

Indonesian lawmakers have defended the new laws, saying they were an attempt to satisfy "public aspiration" in a diverse nation. Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly said on Tuesday that it wasn't easy for a multicultural and multi-ethnic country to make a criminal code that "accommodates all interests."

Winastra says that the new laws caught him and others off guard because they felt the government had been very enthusiastic about increasing foreign tourist arrivals. "Now there will now be rules and laws that will burden tourists and the industry," he added.

Like most major tourist hotspots around the world, Bali suffered significant economic turmoil during the Covid-19 pandemic.

From more than 500,000 foreign visitors each month, arrivals slumped to as low as 45 for the entire year of 2021.

But with the pandemic in retreat, government and tourism industry officials had been forecasting a healthy revival, potentially bringing in billions of dollars of revenue for the Indonesian economy.

Earlier this year, the World Travel & Tourism Council, a global industry body, forecast annual growth of 10% for Indonesia's travel industry over the next 10 years, predicting the sector would contribute nearly $118 billion dollars to the country's GDP while creating more than 500,000 jobs each year for the next decade.

Local guide Ken Katut told CNN Travel that he believed things were "progressing in the right direction" in the tourism industry after G20 leaders held a summit in Bali in November.

Hotels were bustling with delegates, Ken said, and he was "thrilled" to be busy ferrying tourists around the island.

"The G20 was great for us who had been out of work during the pandemic," he said. "It really brought Bali back to life."

Now, some worry the momentum will be cut just as it was starting to pick up again.

https://us.cnn.com/travel/article/indon ... index.html
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