Why investors and tourists need not fear Indonesia’s new criminal code

JAKARTA – Indonesia’s passage of

a controversial criminal code

this week has grabbed the world’s attention. It is seen as a setback to democracy and human rights, but the government has defended it as “a middle ground to knit together Indonesia’s diverse society”.

The international media had particularly zoomed in on the ban on sex outside marriage, which is punishable by up to a year in prison; and cohabitation, which carries up to six months in jail.