One of the 12 petitioners who sought to ban premarital sex and same-sex relationships through a judicial review petition at the Constitutional Court has said that the court’s decision to reject their request was a mistake.

Euis Sunarti, a professor in family studies at the Bogor Agricultural Institute (IPB), told reporters shortly after the court issued its ruling that Indonesia was currently under the threat of “deviant” sexual practices.

“We have studied this matter on the ground. We know that, for example, in one village, adultery was committed by 70 percent of families there,” she said. “This is a problem haunting parents who pray all the time asking that their children become pious individuals.”

Euis and other petitioners have demanded that the Constitutional Court expand the definition of zina in the Criminal Code (KUHP), which is currently defined only as adultery, to all kinds of sexual relations outside of marriage. They also challenged the article on sodomy in the prevailing law, which currently only mentions pedophilia.

The court rejected the judicial review petition on the grounds that it was not authorized to formulate new criminal acts in the KUHP. It also argued that just because a law does not conform to existing norms, that does not mean it is unconstitutional.

Human rights activists have opposed the petition, saying it was an affront to civil liberties.

Euis said they would continue their fight to protect family values by outlawing extramarital sex. They plan to visit the House of Representatives, which is currently deliberating a revision to the KUHP. (ahw)