Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Friday ordered a delay in a parliamentary vo...
JAKARTA - Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Friday ordered a delay in a parliamentary vote on a new penal code criminalizing sex outside marriage and same-sex relations, which has been criticized by rights groups as an assault on basic freedoms.
Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, has substantial Christian, Hindu and Buddhist minorities but has seen a recent trend toward greater religious piety and conservative Islamic activism. At a news conference, Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly said he would follow the president’s order to clarify some clauses of the bill, while fiercely defending it.
Tempo newspaper on Friday likened the planned revisions to a return to the “New Order” of former authoritarian ruler Suharto, who curbed free speech and allowed cronies and his family to control big chunks of the economy.
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