Return to dark ages

I refer to the front page article in The Jakarta Post, on Sept. 30, entitled Code revision says 'no' to casual sex, sorcery.

Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra's idea to restrict and regulate the sexual behavior of legal consenting adults is archaic. If the proposed changes to the Criminal Code (KUHP), articles 422 & 423, for example, are passed, it would throw Indonesia back to the dark ages. The fact that these proposals are even being entertained in this day and age by the Minister of Justice and Human Rights is frightening.

In the article, Abdul Gani Abdullah, director general of Laws and Regulations at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, states "There is no such intention by the government (to intervene in the private matters of individuals). It is the community that had demanded the inclusion of those articles in the revised KUHP".

It is a breach of human rights when a single sector of a community is allowed to impose its laws on people with different beliefs and values outside that community. This is a form of terrorism, not by killing people but by taking away their freedom and right to enjoy life according to their own beliefs. In a country with dozens of diverse cultures and several different recognized religions, it is the responsibility of the Human Rights Minister to protect minorities and guard against the imposition of a single religion's laws upon others.

The implications, if these laws actually went into effect, would be vast. For one, the culturally accepted behaviors of individuals from many different communities throughout the archipelago would be made illegal. International businesspeople would become even more reticent and foreign entrepreneurs would be unwilling to invest in Indonesia as sharia law (strict Islamist law) is included in the Constitution. Indonesia will become inhospitable for visitors of other beliefs and the tourism industry, which is so vital to many parts of this country and already hard hit by terrorism, will collapse.

Rather than becoming healthier economically, more and more people will be plunged into poverty.

I WAYAN SETIAWAN Bongkasa, Bali