We recently discussed the new penal code being established in Indonesia which will impose a version of Sharia law for everyone in the country. One aspect of the new laws has become known as the “Bali bonking ban” because it imposes jail sentences of up to a year for married people who commit adultery or unmarried people who cohabitate. That provision provoked an immediate outcry, largely because Bali and other resort areas of the island nation are popular tourist destinations for western visitors who don’t always embrace the same rigid personal restrictions that the country’s Muslim majority insist upon. Apparently realizing the amount of money they would potentially stand to lose, the Governor of Bali has now “clarified” the law and said that authorities will not be looking into the marital status of any tourists coming to the island. (BBC)

Bali Governor Wayan Koster clearly wants to make sure the tourism industry doesn’t go under. He told reporters, “Bali is Bali as usual, which is comfortable and safe to be visited.”

This was clearly a case of economic reality colliding with Islamic ideology and the bottom line came out on top. Other places with Sharia law such as Afghanistan and Iran aren’t exactly renowned as tourism destinations or dependent on the revenue such traffic brings. But Indonesia relies heavily on tourism to remain afloat. Prior to the pandemic (which devastated the nation’s economy), nearly ten percent of Indonesia’s GDP was derived from tourism. They can’t afford to lose that much of their economy over a new legal code.

This was a rather clever way to handle the distinctions between the locals and tourists. They aren’t saying that adultery and sex outside of marriage will be legal for tourists. They’re only saying that they won’t check anyone’s marital status, allowing them to just “assume” that any couples checking into one of their hotels are married. As for the country’s own citizens, no such leniency will be available.

Of course, as Islamic national laws go, Indonesia’s new penalties are still relatively mild by comparison. Six months or one year in jail would look like a holiday to people in Iran. The penalty there for married men or women was until very recently death by stoning. The changed the law to a “kinder and gentler” version a couple of years ago so the adulterers can be hanged instead. The penalty for unmarried people engaging in adultery is still 100 lashes (which can easily turn into a death sentence depending on who is wielding the whip).

And that law isn’t simply hypothetical. In November of last year, Iran’s highest court upheld the death penalty for a married 27-year-old man and his 33-year-old lover. The man’s wife had asked for leniency for her husband, but her father demanded he be killed. The court sided with the father and sentenced the pair to be hanged.