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Indonesia Bans Sex Outside Marriage

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A new criminal code that bans having sex outside of marriage was enacted by the Indonesian parliament.

It was approved with the backing of all political parties and will apply to both Indonesian citizens and foreign visitors, carrying a possible prison sentence of up to a year. Additionally, a new legislation forbids unmarried couples from living together.

The government already forbids adultery but not sex outside of marriage, and the new law will not take effect for three years.

However, concerns exist regarding what this development will bring for tourism.

According to Maulana Yusran, deputy head of Indonesia’s tourism agency, the new rules are “totally counterproductive” as the nation works to recover from the COVID-19 outbreak.

“We deeply regret the government have closed their eyes. We have already expressed our concern to the ministry of tourism about how harmful this law is.”

The restrictions are anticipated to cause problems for the business community, particularly for those who frequently host and serve visitors and people from other countries.

For instance, Bali, which is largely dependent on tourism, is still recovering from the pandemic downturn that drove visitors away.

The restrictions will “make foreigners think twice” about visiting Indonesia, according to Putu Winastra, chairman of the Association of the Indonesian Tour and Travel Agencies (ASITA) in Bali, while speaking to a news source.

Putu questioned how the restrictions would be enforced and added, “From our point of view as tourism industry players, this law will be very troublesome.”

He inquired if they should ask unmarried foreigners if they were married or not. Putu claimed that any attempts to draw visitors back to the island may be “counterproductive” in light of the laws.

He claimed that if the regulations were actually put into effect, tourists might end up in jail, which would be bad for the industry.

The 200-page new criminal code has been in development for years.

A previous proposal was supposed to be approved in 2019, but thousands of protesters, mostly students, took to the streets to demand the government rescind it, forcing the vote to be postponed.

At the moment, President Joko Widodo announced in a televised address that he would postpone the vote after “carefully examining feedback from various parties who express issues on the certain substantial substance of the penal code.”

Amnesty’s Hamid highlighted that since 2019, “no substantive adjustments” have been made.

The amendment voted on Tuesday makes it so that having sex outside of marriage might result in a year in jail, however, there are limitations on who can file a formal complaint. For instance, it is legal for the parents of children who are living together before getting married to report it.

The code not only adds new offences but also makes existing rules and penalties more comprehensive. A proposal paper states that the maximum prison term for violating blasphemy laws has been raised from “one to six provisions” to five years.

According to Hamid, regulations prohibiting unpermitted protests and insulting the nation’s leaders will have a “chilling effect” on free speech.

He stated that the return of rules barring insults against the president and vice president, the current administration, as well as state institutions, would further produce a palpable stifling effect on freedom of speech and criminalise reasonable objections.

The restrictions, according to Human Rights Watch researcher in Indonesia Andreas Harsono, are a setback for already diminishing religious freedom in Indonesia” and could be abused to target particular people.

“The danger of oppressive laws is not that they’ll be broadly applied, it’s that they provide avenue for selective enforcement,” he said.

Law professor Hadi Rahmat Purnama of the University of Indonesia said the rules would go into effect after a three-year transitional period.

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Crime

2 ladies docked for allegedly obtaining money by fraud

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The police in Lagos have dragged two women, Mmesuma Ofunna, and Blessing Adimekwe, before an Ojo Magistrates’ Court in Lagos, over alleged obtaining money by false pretence.

Ofunna, 22, and Adimekwe, 25, were arraigned before the Magistrate, Mr L K J Layeni, on a four-count charge bordering on conspiracy, obtaining by false pretence, stealing and conduct likely to breach peace.

They each, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The prosecutor, ASP Simon Uche, told the court that the defendants conspired with others now at large, to commit the offence on Oct. 26 at the Okokomaiko area of Ojo.

He alleged that they had obtained the sum of N70, 000 from one Faith Ahamefule, with a promise not to post her nude photo on social media.

The prosecutor alleged that the defendants later posted the nude photo of the nominal complainant on social media, knowing that their promise was false.

He alleged that they stole the N70, 0000, thereby conducting themselves in a manner likely to breach public peace.

The offence contravenes the provisions of sections 168(d), 287, 314, and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015.

The court granted the defendants bails in the sum of N500, 000 each, with two sureties each in like sum.

He adjourned the case until Jan. 8, 2025 for mention.

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Crime

Mechanic jailed 15 months for pickpocketing passengers

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A Jos Magistrates’ Court on Monday, sentenced a 26-year-old Mechanic, Sadiq Umar to 15 months imprisonment for pickpocketing from passengers.

The Magistrate, Shawomi Bokkos, summarily tried and sentenced the convict after he pleaded guilty to the charge.

Bokkos in his judgment, ordered the convict to pay an option of N100, 000 fine or spend one year in prison.

He also asked him to pay a compensation of N15, 000 or an additional three months in prison in default.

Earlier, the Prosecutor, Insp Ijuptil Thiawur, told the court that the case was reported on Nov.16, at the “A” Division Police station by Moses Pam, Alexander Bakshak and Simon Justice the complaints.

Thiawur said that the convict attempted to steal from them before he was caught in the act and when the driver stopped the vehicle to search him he fled but was caught.

The Police said that the offence contravened the Plateau Penal Code Law.

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Crime

Police detain 2 suspected fraudsters, reject N66m bribe in Lagos

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Police rescue 14 passengers from bandits in Jibia

The Zone-2 Police Command in Lagos says it has detained two suspected international fraudsters that allegedly specialised in forging foreign certificates in Lagos and Ghana.

The AIG in charge of the zone, Adegoke Fayaode, confirmed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday.

Fayoade said that the suspects allegedly offered N66m to the operatives with a view to free them but the offer was turned down.

NAN reports that the same zone operatives rejected a N174m bribe offered by a suspect in November to set him free.

Fayoade said that the suspects simply identified as Elvis, 23 and Kelly, 24, allegedly specialised in forging certificates of different nations and African Universities and defrauding their unsuspecting victims on the internet.

He said that the suspects have succeeded in acquiring exotic cars and erecting mansions in different parts of the country with the proceeds of their loot.

The AIG pointed out that luck ran out of the suspects after detectives at the Anti-Corruption Unit of the Zone received credible information from Nigerians in diaspora concerning some group of boys that specialised in forging foreign certificates.

According to him, on getting the information, he detailed the anti-corruption unit to investigate it and arrest the suspects without delay.

Fayoade said that based on his directives, the detectives stormed Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos waiting for the arrival of the suspects, whom they trailed to a five star hotel at Osapa-London in Lekki Area.

He said that the operatives arrested the suspects at a bus stop while they were about to escape secretly from the hotel, after monitoring their activities.

“Searching their luggage, one certificate of Blue Crest College, Ghana, belonging to Elvis and a student identity card of Academic City College belonging to Kelly were recovered.

“Further search revealed a transcript of an academic record from Blue Crest University belonging to Elvis.

“A letter of English proficiency from the said college and a letter of recommendation from the same Blue Crest College were recovered,” he said.

The AIG said that the suspects made useful statements to the police and confessed that they never got any admission into the school, stressing that they only procured the degree certificates through the help of a female Nigerian resident in Ghana.

“The suspects further confessed that the major aim of doing that is to enable them to get Ghana resident permit, which they got.

“The resident permit is showing them also as a student of Academic City University and that none of them has ever been admitted in the school.

“They claimed they paid a total of 26,000 Ghana Cedis for all the documents procured.

“They confessed that they procured all the documents to evade arrest in Ghana since they don’t have any means of livelihood.

Whenever police intercepted them, they showed their passports that they were students in Ghana.”

Fayoade said that the suspects were also allegedly involved in online romance scam, provision of foreign bank accounts for fraudulent transactions on the internet through what they call ‘Facebook bombing’.

He said the suspects presented themselves as an American soldier by name Captain Donald Rowe, serving in Syria, whom they impersonated on Instagram, using his name to defraud innocent persons.

The AIG said that while detectives were making frantic efforts to get more credible information from the suspects, they started negotiating to bribe the operatives for them to be set free.

“I directed my men to play along and recover the money as an exhibit. Subsequently, the detectives played along and the suspects paid them a sum of N66m, which they collected and kept as an exhibit.

“The Nigeria Police authorities have written to the Ghana embassy to get more information about the result and their suspected partners in Ghana said to be spearheading the fraud.

Fayoade said that they had also spread their dragnets through the International Police, Interpol, to round up their foreign accomplices.

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