http://www.theage.com.au/world/black-magic-may-still-weave-a-spell-over-indonesian-law-20130308-2fqyb.html
Black magic may still weave a spell over Indonesian law Date March 9, 2013 Michael Bachelard Indonesia correspondent for Fairfax Media Legislating against "black magic", adultery and living outside of wedlock: Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Photo: AFP Australian travellers to Indonesia beware: smuggling drugs will still earn you a jail sentence but, if an official draft of the country's new criminal code becomes law, so could practising ''black magic'', adultery and living outside wedlock. The new draft law is supposed to modernise Indonesia's 1918 Criminal Code, last updated in 1958, but some of its proposals constitute a step back to the Middle Ages. In this country where many people believe they could be killed, injured or robbed by a sorcerer using black magic, news portal Detik.com's report on Thursday that people guilty of using black magic to cause ''someone's illness, death, mental or physical suffering'', face up to five years in jail or 300 million rupiah ($31,000) in fines would be welcome. Even claiming to have the power to cast dark spells would become a criminal offence under the new code and, if the magic was performed for financial gain, the penalty would increase by one-third. However, ''white'' magic would remain legal. Commentators quoted in the Jakarta Globe newspaper agreed it may be difficult to find hard evidence for these offences. The new criminal code, which was drafted by the country's Ministry of Justice and Human Rights and circulated this week to parliamentarians, also highlights the growing sense of religious puritanism in Indonesia, taking a stronger line on moral ''offences''. Indonesian law has long contained criminal sanctions against adultery, but in the new 500-page draft, the penalties have been beefed up considerably; those caught straying outside the marital bed could find themselves spending up to five years on a prison pallet. Ministry spokesman Goncang Raharjo said the existing maximum penalty for adultery of nine months had failed to stop the practice, so ''we increased the sanctions to prevent people from easily committing adultery''. Living together outside wedlock would also be criminalised for the first time, earning cohabiters up to one year in jail and putting it on a par with prostitution. All the provisions in the new law, including those related to the dark arts, were included for the good of the people, the ministry insisted. An MP from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democrat Party, Khatibul Umam Wiranu, agreed with the new proposals when contacted by the Jakarta Globe, but said of witchcraft that charges should be ''based on fact-finding, not [just] on someone's statement''. As for adultery, it was ''the beginning of many social problems'', so the sentence ''should deter offenders, [and] nine months is not long enough''. But five years was ''too long'', he said. Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/world/black-magic-may-still-weave-a-spell-over-indonesian-law-20130308-2fqyb.html#ixzz2Myp16KZj [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
