With Indonesia’s rising Islamism and extramarital sex ban, are places like Bali safe for tourists?

The wolf of Islamism in Indonesia is quietly putting its sheep-skin coat back on the hanger.

The country just ratified a new criminal code that outlaws extramarital sex. Sex outside marriage could land you in jail for a year. The code, which has 37 chapters and 624 articles, also expands the scope of blasphemy.

In 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, there were 6.57 lakh Indian tourists to Indonesia. On an average, an Indian tourist spends $1,000 per visit. The island of Bali itself gets more than 6 million visitors from across the world in normal times. Most of these tourists are young. They have diverse sexual orientations and are not married.

Is it safe for them to visit Indonesia now?

After global bad press on the new Islamist diktat, Indonesian authorities sought to dispel tourists’ fears saying they will not be touched. But these are verbal assurances. There has been no reported change in the letter or spirit of the proposed law.

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Any law-enforcement official or shady elements in the tourism ecosystem — like a hotel manager, cab driver or bar owner — can harass and blackmail tourists. You can’t obviously ask for recourse from the government official who had promised the world that nothing will happen to tourists. Because the law will exist on paper; the reassurances won’t.

Leaked drafts of the penal code in the media suggest a couple could be prosecuted if they are reported by their immediate relatives. For foreigners engaged in a relationship with a local, danger looms.

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Besides, Islamic countries are known to renege even on officially declared exceptions. So while Iran prohibits alcohol for only Muslims, it did not stop the Islamic Republic from jailing Zoroastrian couple Afarin Neyssari and her husband Karan Vafadari for possessing and serving alcohol, that too in their home, reportedly because of political vendetta.

Islamism has been on the rise in Indonesia, home to the largest Muslim population in the world. At last count, it had more than 23 crore Muslims, who form 87 per cent of the nation’s population and 12.7 per cent of Muslims worldwide.

In June, Indonesian authorities charged six staffers of the nightlife chain Holywings with blasphemy. Holywings had merely announced an online promotion offering free booze for men named Muhammad and women named Maria. In spite of the company apologising to the Indonesian Ulema Council, the six employees now face up to 15 years in prison.

After its independence from the Netherlands in 1945, Indonesia established the national ideology of Pancasila, derived from the Sanskrit ‘paanch’ (five) and ‘sheel’ (principles). But its precept of social justice for all has got repeatedly torn by growing Islamism and demands for the primacy of Sharia laws.

“In April, police arrested individuals across the country for blasphemy related to social media uploads that included altered lyrics to a popular song about the wife of the Prophet Muhammad. Some local governments imposed local laws and regulations restricting religious observance, such as regulations banning Shia or Ahmadi Islamic practice,” a 2000 US government report stated. “In Aceh Province, authorities continued to carry out public canings for Sharia violations, such as selling alcohol, gambling, and extramarital affairs, including caning a woman, who received 200 strokes for her extramarital affairs with two men, who each received 100 strokes for their involvement. In Riau Province, a local community had been preventing renovations at a Catholic church until President Joko Widodo’s cabinet became involved in February and mediated the dispute to ensure the renovations could begin.”

While the nation’s and the world’s largest Islamic group, the Nahdatul Ulama, called for abolishing the word ‘kafir’ or ‘infidel’, strong radical strains continue to flourish. Terror groups like Al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah, ISIS-affiliated Mujahidin Indonesia Timur (MIT), Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) and their offshoots carry out lethal strikes across the country.

A regressive Islamist penal code will make these elements less of an outlier.

And one of the most vibrant seats of the Hindu/Buddhist/Indic civilisation will march faster towards ruin, tourism being one of the many aspects taking the fall.

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