‘Bali bonk ban’ hysteria misses real issue
A proposal to make consensual sex between unmarried adults a crime in Indonesia has ignited a frenzy, but there is a far more serious law change being considered that needs scrutiny, writes Glen Hulley.
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Proposed changes to Indonesia’s criminal code including a law that would make consensual sex between unmarried adults a crime has ignited a mainstream and social media frenzy, with much talk of a ‘Bali bonk ban’.
But “proposed” doesn’t mean legislated, let alone enforced, with President Joko Widodo himself calling for the House of Representatives to delay the bill last Friday.
While talk of a ‘bonk ban’ may make for a sensational story, there are other proposed changes that warrant closer scrutiny, including a potentially disturbing law that would legislate the automatic release from incarceration of any prisoner who reaches the age of 75 while in custody.
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This proposed law will have an effect on the important work that Yayasan Project Karma Indonesia (YPKI) and other organisations are doing in Indonesia, not just in Bali.
The perfect example is the case of Australian paedophile Robert Andrew Fiddes Ellis.
In 2016 as a result of an investigation that I was involved in, Ellis was found guilty of sexually abusing 11 child victims in Bali over a three-year period.
He was 69 years old when sentenced to the maximum penalty of 15 years in jail.
He is now 72 and still serving his sentence.
If this law is to be passed, then he would be eligible for release in under three years, having only served a total of six years … effectively only serving 40 per cent of his sentence.
Now that is a real problem.
Justice is paramount, especially for child sexual assault victims, as is protecting the community.
Which is why I will be reminding the Indonesian judiciary of the three week pre-trial legal debate that we endured with the victims, to determine if Ellis would be retrospectively sentenced under the newly legislated chemical castration and death penalty sentencing provisions for child rape cases in Indonesia, should he be found guilty.
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The decision handed down by three judges was that he could not be sentenced retrospectively since the law changed after his arrest — not before.
Hence, upon a finding of guilt, he was given the maximum penalty.
In fact, Project Karma will be lobbying that should such a proposed law be introduced, then an exemption should be made for all child sex offenders — regardless of age — to serve their full sentence.
If Ellis is released, he will be immediately deported back to Australia.
No longer will children be safe from him.
He will become Australia’s problem and he must be entered on a child sex offender register upon his return, which would therefore make him ineligible to hold a passport thanks to the overseas travel ban introduced by Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party in 2017. (I first raised the issue with Hinch in 2015.)
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Because we do not as yet have a nationally managed, public child sex offender register in Australia, despite our relentless lobbying, the general public would have no idea where this man would be living or interacting in the community in Australia. This is a man who has been convicted of sexually abusing at least 11 child victims (we knew of 24), the youngest being just seven years old.
The Australian media needs to drop the whole “Bali is bad” agenda.
A “bonk ban” in Bali is not what we need to be focusing on here.
Glen Hulley is a former police officer and the founder of the charity Project Karma www.projectkarma.org.au