Few Australians realise just how conservative Indonesia is while they’re living it up on Kuta Beach. More than a million holiday-makers travelled to Bali in 2019 to enjoy its open beaches, warm weather and cheap facilities.
For some, it partying all night in a Schoolies right of passage. Others see it as an exotic wedding destination. Or a quick and easy escape to celebrate a significant event. For many, it’s the only affordable foreign holiday destination.
But Indonesia’s undergoing an identity crisis.
The predominantly Sunni Muslim culture is grappling with its place – and role – in a global economy. And, like many similar nations, the world’s third-largest democracy is taking a harsh turn towards authoritarianism.
The crackdown on sex is just one of Jakarta’s draconian new measures. And it’s not entirely about religious conservatism.
New far-reaching anti-blasphemy laws prohibit insulting the President, government officials and police. Speaking out could land you four years in jail.
“Essentially there are a whole lot of provisions in the code now that seem to contribute to the decline of democracy in Indonesia,” says Simon Butt, professor of Indonesian law at Sydney University.
“This allows public and private figures to silence legitimate criticism through threats of criminal prosecutions.”
Holiday sex bans are nothing new. Nor are fragile politicians or religious zealots.
Qatar fined a Dutch tourist $1000 and jailed her for three months in 2016 for adultery. She had reported being drugged and raped. Her assailant was given 140 lashes – also for adultery.
Saudi Arabia used to insist couples provide a marriage certificate before allowing them to book a hotel room. It still punishes “public displays of affection”. And all non-marital sex – as well as LGBTQI relations – is illegal.
What is new is the arrival of such bedroom policing at Australia’s closest, favourite getaway spot.
Bali’s ‘bonk ban’
Relations between Indonesia and Australia have rarely been better. The East Timor crisis is behind us. As are the Bali bombings. The execution of Australian drug traffickers is history. And tit-for-tat trade boycotts are a thing of the past.
Instead, annual meetings between the two nations’ defence and foreign ministers maintain a constructive momentum. This has resulted in increasingly common joint military and police exercises and operations and friendly diplomatic relations.
But a new crisis is potentially one inopportune moment away.
Current Indonesian law only prohibits a spouse from having sex outside their marriage. But, under the new criminal code, all sex outside a religiously sanctioned marriage can be punished with jail for up to a year. Even staying together in the same apartment can lead to six months behind bars.
While new laws do not exempt foreign visitors, Indonesian authorities say provisions make a “Bali bonk ban” unlikely.
Police will only investigate an alleged offence if a formal complaint is made by a family member, says Justice Ministry spokesman Albert Aries. “That means Australians shouldn’t be worried,” he adds.
But there are fears the law could lead to extortion.
“Let’s say an Australian tourist has a boyfriend or a girlfriend who is a local,” Human Rights Watch researcher Andreas Harsono says. “Then the local parents or the local brother or sister reported the tourist to the police. It will be a problem.”
The LGBTIQ community will fare no better, says former Indonesian parliamentarian Eva Kusuma Sundari. “The punishment of extramarital sex and cohabitation can potentially be used against homosexual couples, who do not have the right to marry, while the criminalisation of ‘obscene acts’ in public can also be used to target LGBTIQ people.”
The cultural clash cuts both ways. Particularly for Bali.
“I am very, very worried, because I really depend on tourism,” a tour guide called Yoman told the BBC. “The Gulf war, Bali bombing, volcano eruptions, Mount Semeru (volcano), Mount Rinjani (volcano) and then Covid. Bali tourism is easily affected,” he says.
Faith police
“President Joko Widodo has issued frequent and passionate appeals to political parties and presidential candidates not to mobilise religion in support of their 2024 election campaigns,” writes retired lieutenant colonel and former Australian Institute of International Affairs (AIIA) ACT branch president Robert Lowry.
“Whether this will neutralise the potential for religious polarisation and force candidates to focus on programs and pragmatic issues remains to be seen.”
Jakarta has significantly stepped up its anti-terror operations since the rise of ISIS in the Middle East in 2015. But influential community leaders continue to push for the creation of an Islamic state or the implementation of sharia Law in Indonesia. So far, Aceh is the only province to enforce the punitive religious code.
Religious freedom is protected under Indonesia’s constitution. But Jakarta only formally recognises six religions: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Confucianism.
While followers of Sunni Islam make up 87 per cent of the population, Indonesia is home to 245 native religions. Many of these are simply ignored.
Every Indonesian is asked to declare their religion (but only one of the approved six) when issued a national identity card at age 17. They must then study it at school. If they don’t actually practice it, they can be jailed for blasphemy.
And marriage contracts made outside the six are not always recognised.
But such overbearing blasphemy laws are also a potential political weapon.
For example, Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja (Ahok) Purnama, who is a Christian, was jailed in 2017 after implying Islamic leaders were using a Koran verse to restrict their followers to only vote for Muslims.
Jakarta at the crossroads
“Indonesia has been warned by numerous reports, including Democracy Index 2020, of its democratic decline, and the country has been labelled as a “flawed democracy”,” says Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta international relations expert Faris Al-Fadhat.
The fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic and the looming 2024 Indonesian presidential election means the political situation will remain unpredictable.
“We have seen alarming trends like the increasing involvement of the military in civilian matters, ideological division, as well as the increase of restrictions on freedom of expression,” he writes for the AIIA.
You cannot “attack the honour and dignity of the President and the Vice-President,” the criminal code states. And you can be jailed for “spreading Marxist-Leninist teachings”.
Now Indonesian business leaders fear tourism won’t be the only victim of the new criminal code. Foreign investors are increasingly suspicious of authoritarian and religious states. And that won’t help the country bounce back from its pandemic woes.
On the surface, says Al-Fadhat, Jakarta is promoting its policies as necessary to ensure “political stability” for corporate investors. But one recently fell foul of the country’s highest court.
“While the job creation bill was praised by big businesses, it has been criticised by academics and activists for its controversial and authoritarian tendencies,” writes Al-Fadhat. This includes weakening the civil rights of women and indigenous workers and easing environmental protections.
Several high-profile corruption scandals are also causing embarrassment.
Police chief of professional standards Inspector General Ferdy Sambo is facing trial for the murder of one of his assistants. Sambo claims it was an honour killing over sexual advances made to his wife. But given dozens of officers have been implicated in a cover-up, few believe this excuse. Police and judicial figures at all levels are being investigated for involvement in illegal mining operations.
“The failure to address these issues in the TNI (armed forces) and the police force is a legacy of the conditional transfer from authoritarian rule to democracy at the turn of the century – fear of the masses, the need for a mailed fist to assuage those fears, and competing priorities,” Lowry concludes.
Jamie Seidel is a freelance writer | @JamieSeidel