Govt bans extramarital sex

This picture taken on December 5, 2022 shows activists holding a protest against the new criminal code outside the parliament building in Jakarta. - Indonesia's parliament approved on December 6 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. (Photo by ADEK BERRY / AFP)

THE country’s parliament approved legislation that would outlaw sex outside marriage in a move critics said was a huge setback to rights in the world’s most populous Muslim country.

After the new criminal code was endorsed by all nine parties in a sweeping overhaul of the legal code yesterday, deputy house speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad banged the gavel to signal the text was approved and shouted “legal”.