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As Indonesia plans to criminalize cohabitation, cohabiting partners share their stories
For these couples, living together means that they could learn more from each other.
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Their two cents: As the new criminal code bill passes, cohabiting might criminalize couples who live together before marriage. A number of couples shared how they feel about the new criminal code. (Pexel/Jasmine Carter) (Pexel/Jasmine Carter)
For these couples, living together means that they could learn more from each other
Indonesia updated its Criminal Code (KUHP) on Dec. 6, 2022, when the House of Representatives enacted a revised version that ushered the country into a new era in which illiberalism and religious conservatism prevail.
At the House plenary session where the bill was passed, lawmakers and government officials claimed that they had softened the provisions widely deemed as draconian, such as criminalizing those insulting a sitting president and outlawing nonmarital sex and cohabitation.
The criminal code will not be in active use immediately, with a transition from the old code being made within three years.
Still concerned
Dani, a video editor based in Jakarta, is concerned about the new criminal code. The 26-year-old opined that the new criminal code is condemned as pasal karet (catchall articles) and breaches individuals’ privacy. Moreover, Dani added that the government should focus more on corruption.
An opinion piece in The Jakarta Post stated that the criminalization of cohabitation violates other human rights guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). This includes the right to family life, a right that, as international human-rights law acknowledges, may be exercised and undertaken by two cohabiting partners without the need for them to be married to one another.
