Adriaan Bedner on NPO Radio 1 about controversial new law in Indonesia
Mass student protests are taking place in Indonesia against the government. Shortly before a new parliament is to take office, the government wants to push through a number of new laws.
These laws are highly controversial, Adriaan Bedner, Professor by special appointment, says in the Dutch radio programme Bureau Buitenland on NPO Radio 1. 'For example, the laws deal with abortion, living together out of wedlock and homosexual acts. The latter example in particular is immensely controversial. Many of these things have already been made an offence in Indonesia in other laws. This concerns the replacement of an old Dutch act dating back to 1917. It is a symbol of Indonesia’s inability that this act has not yet been replaced. They have been trying for forty years to modernise it and they keep failing.'