– I feel we are being set far back in time here. It’s going to create fear. That’s what Ingela Skoglie says. She is 23 years old and comes from Fannrem in Trøndelag. She has now lived for a year in Bali, Indonesia, where she works as an online personal trainer. She is not alone in thinking that the legislative change is bad news. – Prohibiting sex outside marriage is a violation of the right to privacy which is protected by international law. That’s what Patricia Kaatee says. She is a political advisor at Amnesty International. They are strongly critical of the tightening of the penal code that has been adopted in Indonesia. The law that was passed on Tuesday is scheduled to come into force in three years. And it’s not just sex outside of marriage that becomes a criminal offence. It also tightens freedom of expression, the rights of women and religious minorities, and LGBT rights, according to Human Rights Watch. – Such “morality” provisions can both be misused to criminalize those who are exposed to sexual abuse and to persecute lhbtiq people, says Kaatee. She points out that consensual sex should not be treated as something punishable or a breach of any public “morality”. In the new text of the law, the penalty for having sex outside marriage is imprisonment for up to one year. – Sex is the world’s most common thing In Bali, Ingela Skoglie has found a place in the sun when news calls. It is around 30 degrees Celsius, and far from the snow chaos at home in Trøndelag. Ingela Skoglie Photo: Privat Skoglie says she and her friends have talked a lot about the change in the law in recent days. They are very uncertain about how the authorities will be able to enforce such a law. – The fact that people have sex in Bali is the most common thing in the world, so I don’t understand why there should be a law that creates anxiety and fear. Maybe people stop going out. Then it can affect nightlife and tourism, and that is what they make a living from here. This is what it looks like in Bali near where Ingela Skoglie lives. Photo: Privat Both Skoglie and several of her friends have experienced being treated badly by the police on the island. They say there is a lot of corruption and police officers pressuring them to pay them money. – I’m terrified of being put in prison here. And I’m very afraid of doing something wrong, but I’ve learned what it’s like to live here and behave properly, she says. The 23-year-old wonders how much negative publicity Bali can take before people think they can travel elsewhere instead. – Let’s say boys from Australia, Sweden or Norway, who are going on a boys’ trip. Of course they think “of course I’m going to fuck the ladies – but it’s not nice to be put in an Indonesian prison.” Then we’ll go to Thailand instead, guys,” she says. Skoglie is unsure whether the change in the law will go beyond the planning of Norwegian 19-year-olds who have finished upper secondary school and are thinking about going out into the world. – But if the 19-year-old doesn’t think it’s stupid to go to Indonesia, then at least the parents of the 19-year-old think so. Why should you travel to a place that is set a hundred years back in time? Makes it difficult to offer studies There are several Norwegian players who operate travel and study offers in Bali. GoStudy is one of these providers. They have around 100 students on the island in Indonesia this semester. Since 1999, they have sent promising young people there to become personal trainers or to study philosophy or social anthropology. – We are following the situation closely and have already been in dialogue with our partners in Bali. Now this law will not come into force until spring, so we are planning the semester as usual, says Andrea Nordvik. She has just quit as general manager of the company, but is the one who answers when news calls. – Is it safe to send students there when this law actually comes into force? – My immediate thought is that it is not possible to have students down there with those premises, says Nordvik. Miserable for human rights Amnesty International is not particularly impressed by the decision made by the Indonesian government. They say the protection of many important human rights is abolished. Adultery is already illegal and punishable in the country – Indonesia’s new penal code is a significant blow to the country’s hard-fought progress in protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms over more than two decades, says Patricia Kaatee. Patricia Kaatee in Amnesty International Norway. Photo: Amnesty International Norway Amnesty says the new criminal law will limit the room for action that civil society in Indonesia currently has even more. It also re-introduces provisions making it a criminal offense to insult state authorities, the president, the vice-president, the government and state institutions. – It will mean that legitimate and peaceful criticism is criminalised, and restrict the right to freedom of expression, she says and points out that this will make it difficult to express critical views peacefully in the future.
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Sex outside marriage becomes illegal in Indonesia. Amnesty and Norwegian Ingela Skoglie are critical – news Trøndelag
