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Travel Advice Update: Australia Warns Its Citizens Traveling to Indonesia of 'Possible Future Changes' to Indonesia's Criminal Code

Students Doing Demonstration in Front of Jakarta Parliament Building.

Official travel advice had been updated by the Australian government to warn its citizens living or visiting Indonesia in current times, about the expected passage of Indonesia’s revised criminal code (RKUHP), especially the articles criminalizing sex and cohabitation outside of marriage, which would also apply to all foreigners.

A large portion of foreign tourists visiting Indonesia comes from Australia, as stated by data from Central Statistics Agency (BPS). 1.3 million Australians visited Indonesia’s territory in 2018, with almost 90% naming Bali their primary destination, making it the fifth largest nationality group among those visiting Indonesia.

On its Smartraveller website, The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) highlighted several articles included in RKUHP, including those criminalizing sex and cohabitation outside of marriage, ‘indecent acts’ carried out in public, insulting the President, Vice President, religion, state institutions, and symbols, as well as subverting Indonesia’s national ideology of Pancasila.

It is, though, important to emphasize that the bill has not yet passed and that the revised criminal code would only enter into force for two years if it were to be ratified.

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