VOA新闻杂志2022--印尼新刑法将严禁婚外性行为

Indonesia to Ban Sex Outside of Marriage

Indonesia's parliament on Tuesday voted for new laws to ban sex outside of marriage. The new measure also bans people from insulting the president and government.

Once in force, the bans will affect foreign visitors as well as citizens. But a government official said the new laws will not be in place for several years.

The amended¹ law says sex outside marriage is punishable by a year in jail. And unmarried couples living together will face six months in prison.

The law keeps a previous ban on abortion², a medical procedure to end a pregnancy³. But the changes add exceptions already provided in a 2004 Medical Practice Law, for women with life-threatening medical conditions and rape⁴, provided that the fetus⁵ is less than 12 weeks old.

Citizens could also face 10 years in prison for having links to Marxist-Leninist organizations and 4 years for spreading communism.

The law still permits the death penalty, even though some groups pushed for its removal.

It restores a ban on insulting a sitting president, vice⁶ president, as well as government or national ideology⁷. Insults to a sitting president could lead up to three years in jail.

The change expands an existing blasphemy⁸ law. It gives a five-year prison term for those who move away from Indonesia's six approved religions: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism⁹ and Confucianism.

Civil rights organizations criticized the new laws as overly broad and unclear. They said they will criminalize normal activities and threaten freedom of expression and privacy rights.

Groups that support the rights of LGBTQ people in Indonesia were pleased with one change in the new law: sex between gay people is not included in the list of illegal acts.

Indonesia's President Joko Widodo is expected to sign the new laws. Even if he does not sign it, they will take effect after 30 days.

But Deputy Minister of Law and Human Rights for Indonesia Edward Hiariej said the law will not be enforced for up to three years. He noted¹⁰ that enforcement measures "must be worked out" and could not be done in one year.

Indonesia's leaders tried to update the nation's criminal law in 2019. But Widodo asked lawmakers to delay the vote after nationwide protests. The protesters said the laws were discriminatory and the process for making the changes was unclear.

The government called Tuesday's vote for the new law "a historic step" in Indonesia's independence from the Netherlands. The country has been independent since 1945 but Dutch administrators¹¹ wrote many of the nation's laws.

Andreas Harsono is a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. He said changes to the new Indonesian laws are dangerous. He said, "These laws let police extort¹² bribes¹⁴, let officials jail political foes¹⁶."

Harsono added that places like Bali and Jakarta will also risk losing foreign visitors because of the new laws.

Words in This Story

penalty –n. a punishment

ideology –n. the set of beliefs of a group

blasphemy –n. something said or done that is disrespectful toward God

LGBTQ –n. used to mean Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer

extort –v. to get something (such as money) through a use of force or threats

bribe¹³ –n. to ask someone to do an illegal or unethical act in exchange for money or a favir

foe¹⁵ –n. an opponent or rival

1 Amended   

adj. 修正的 动词amend的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He asked to see the amended version. 他要求看修订本。
• He amended his speech by making some additions and deletions. 他对讲稿作了些增删修改。

2 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

3 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

4 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

5 fetus   

n.胎，胎儿

参考例句：

• In the fetus,blood cells are formed in different sites at different ages.胎儿的血细胞在不同时期生成在不同的部位。
• No one knows why a fetus is not automatically rejected by the mother's immune system. 没有人知道为什么母亲的免疫系统不会自动排斥胎儿。

6 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

7 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。

8 blasphemy   

n.亵渎，渎神

参考例句：

• His writings were branded as obscene and a blasphemy against God.他的著作被定为淫秽作品，是对上帝的亵渎。
• You have just heard his blasphemy!你刚刚听到他那番亵渎上帝的话了！

9 Buddhism   

n.佛教（教义）

参考例句：

• Buddhism was introduced into China about 67 AD.佛教是在公元67年左右传入中国的。
• Many people willingly converted to Buddhism.很多人情愿皈依佛教。

10 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

11 administrators   

n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 )；有管理（或行政）才能的人；（由遗嘱检验法庭指定的）遗产管理人；奉派暂管主教教区的牧师

参考例句：

• He had administrators under him but took the crucial decisions himself. 他手下有管理人员，但重要的决策仍由他自己来做。 来自辞典例句
• Administrators have their own methods of social intercourse. 办行政的人有他们的社交方式。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

12 extort   

v.勒索，敲诈，强要

参考例句：

• The blackmailer tried to extort a large sum of money from him.勒索者企图向他勒索一大笔钱。
• They absolutely must not harm the people or extort money from them.严格禁止坑害勒索群众。

13 bribe   

n.贿赂；v.向…行贿，买通

参考例句：

• He tried to bribe the policeman not to arrest him.他企图贿赂警察不逮捕他。
• He resolutely refused their bribe.他坚决不接受他们的贿赂。

14 bribes   

n.贿赂( bribe的名词复数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂v.贿赂( bribe的第三人称单数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• corrupt officials accepting bribes 接受贿赂的贪官污吏

15 foe   

n.敌人，仇敌

参考例句：

• He knew that Karl could be an implacable foe.他明白卡尔可能会成为他的死敌。
• A friend is a friend;a foe is a foe;one must be clearly distinguished from the other.敌是敌，友是友，必须分清界限。

16 foes   

敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They steadily pushed their foes before them. 他们不停地追击敌人。
• She had fought many battles, vanquished many foes. 她身经百战，挫败过很多对手。