Indonesia's new Criminal Code from 2 January 2026: what a foreigner needs to know
AB
Andrei Balinsky
Founder of Balinsky
Since 2 January 2026, Indonesia has had a new Criminal Code (Law No. 1/2023). It replaced the 1918 code. In early 2026 it was already amended by Law No. 1/2026. Here is what matters for foreigners in Bali.
Private life
- Sex outside marriage (Art. 411) and living together without marriage (Art. 412) are crimes. But a case is opened only on a complaint from a spouse, parents or children. Without such a complaint, the police do not start a case.
- Inciting someone to abandon their religion - up to 2 years (Art. 302).
Speech and the internet
- Spreading information you know to be false that leads to unrest - up to 6 years (Art. 263).
- Insulting the president - only on the president's own complaint.
- Promoting communism - up to 4 years (Art. 188).
- Defamation of a company under the electronic information law is not possible: only a person can file a complaint. The Constitutional Court confirmed this in 2025.
Violence and fraud
- Assault - up to 2.5 years. Serious harm - up to 5 years. If the person died - up to 7 years (Art. 466).
- Fraud - Art. 492. This includes lying to an insurer about the cause of an injury.
- Unlawful access to someone else's computer - up to 6, 7 or 8 years, depending on the part of the article (Art. 332).
Explicit content
Distributing it is prohibited (Pornography Law No. 44/2008). The law does not prohibit keeping it for yourself; the Constitutional Court confirmed this.
Editorial note
Balinsky editorial team · 12 October 2026. The text has been checked against Indonesian laws in force on this date.
Update: early reviews described the code as a future one, gave the start date as 1 January, and mixed up the article numbers on cohabitation and the penalties for assault. We added that a company cannot file a defamation complaint.
Materials the article is based on: https://t.me/BaliLawyer/81, https://t.me/BaliLawyer/87, https://t.me/BaliLawyer/120, https://t.me/BaliLawyer/124, https://t.me/BaliLawyer/130, https://t.me/BaliLawyer/167
Sources
- Criminal Code No. 1/2023: https://pasal.id/peraturan/uu/uu-no-1-tahun-2023
- Art. 466 (assault): https://pasal.id/peraturan/uu/uu-no-1-tahun-2023/pasal-466
- Hukumonline on the cohabitation articles: https://www.hukumonline.com/berita/a/melihat-pengaturan-perzinaan--kohabitasi--dan-perkosaan-dalam-kuhp-baru-lt647fe9d311227/
- Electronic Information Law as amended by No. 1/2024: https://pasal.id/peraturan/uu/uu-no-1-tahun-2024
- Hukumonline on keeping it for yourself: https://www.hukumonline.com/berita/a/menyimpan-koleksi-pornografi-tidak-dilarang--lt4db71f82a8a9c/