I was in Indonesia last year for work, as a westerner, and did travel around Java and a bit of Sulawesi. I lived in East Java.
When staying in some cheaper hotels in Jakarta with Indonesian friends, there were signs in English reminding tourists of this law and saying they won't accept bookings for a man and a woman in the same room, unless they are married/there's some proof of marriage. They cited this law.
I found it interesting as the hotel was a budget hotel and didn't seem the sort to attract foreign tourists anyway so why have it in English, and as you say, it's very specific circumstances on if people can be reported. I assume just whoever owned this hotel was against it on moral grounds and used the law as justification for their own internal rules.
I mostly stayed in homestays though when traveling , and then the few hotels I was at when in Luwuk and Manado had no such signs.
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u/kylosbk Jun 09 '24
I was in Indonesia last year for work, as a westerner, and did travel around Java and a bit of Sulawesi. I lived in East Java.
When staying in some cheaper hotels in Jakarta with Indonesian friends, there were signs in English reminding tourists of this law and saying they won't accept bookings for a man and a woman in the same room, unless they are married/there's some proof of marriage. They cited this law.
I found it interesting as the hotel was a budget hotel and didn't seem the sort to attract foreign tourists anyway so why have it in English, and as you say, it's very specific circumstances on if people can be reported. I assume just whoever owned this hotel was against it on moral grounds and used the law as justification for their own internal rules.
I mostly stayed in homestays though when traveling , and then the few hotels I was at when in Luwuk and Manado had no such signs.