Jakarta. The Indonesian government on Saturday clarified a controversial article of the newly-enacted Criminal Code that bans sexual intercourse outside of marriage, saying the stipulation regulates extramarital sex which can be prosecuted only on request.

The clarification came after the specific article drew criticisms from rights groups and was reported widely by international media, raising concerns about its impacts on the country’s tourism industry.

Criminal law expert Albert Aries, a spokesman for the government-sanctioned Criminal Code Dissemination Team, said extramarital sex or adultery is a category of offense that cannot be prosecuted without a complaint by a member or members of the nuclear family.

Albert said only the husband or the wife of the “victim” can make a complaint against adultery. If the “victim” is unmarried or a widow, the right to make the complaint is reserved for the parents or the children. 

This concept is known as delik aduan under Indonesian law, or klachtdelict in Dutch law. 

Indonesia’s Criminal Code has been adopted since the Dutch colonial rule more than a century ago and only earlier this week did the government and the House of Representatives agree to introduce a replacement.

“So there will be no legal process without complaints from the rightful party who is directly harmed,” Albert said in a statement.
 
“We need to provide this clarification following the rise in misleading and fundamentally erroneous news reports on adultery which is considered to have a negative impact on the tourism and investment sectors in Indonesia.”

Albert claimed that the adultery article has “no substantive changes” from the same stipulation in the current Criminal Code.

The new Criminal Code will come into force three years after the enactment to allow enough dissemination period for law enforcement agencies, law schools, and legal practitioners.

Even if the adultery complaint is proven true, there is alternative punishment namely a fine of up to Rp 10 million, he added.

"So there's really nothing to worry about,” Albert said, referring to concerns among foreign visitors. 

He said the specific article is meant to assert respect for the marriage institution and its values without violating “the private space of the public” including “visiting tourists and investors”.

The new Criminal Code says nothing about administrative requirements for foreign visitors to reveal their marital status, he added.