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(CNN) - Indonesia would approve a highly controversial new penal code that would penalize consensual sexual relations outside of marriage and prohibit same-sex relationships, to a degree that rights groups have criticized as a violation of basic rights .
The bill to reform the criminal code, which will also introduce sanctions for insulting the president, will be adopted starting next week, after the government accepted the bill on Wednesday.
Human Rights Watch called the draft criminal code "disastrous not only for women and religious and gender minorities, but also for all Indonesians," and asks lawmakers to abandon controversial articles before passing the law.
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An NGO now urges the president of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, to intervene and delay the bill of 628 articles, before it becomes legal on September 24.
Indonesia is the largest Muslim-majority country in the world, but it prides itself on being a tolerant nation with a diverse mix of ethnicities and religions. But there has been a growing intolerance in the country against religious and sexual minorities by increasingly conservative religious conservatives.
The ruling comes months after a hard-fought election in which progressives confronted Islamic intransigents and brought concerns about greater involvement of Islamic groups in politics to the forefront.
The new penal code has been in process for decades. Indonesian Minister of Law and Human Rights, Yasonna Laoly, who reintroduced the bill in 2015, told CNN that the law replaces the 100-year criminal code of the Dutch colonial era and would make Indonesia's criminal law it will adjust more to the way Indonesians live today.
“We would like to change to our new penal code to focus more on Indonesia's perspectives on the law. The reason is because there are some laws in the penal code that are no longer suitable for Indonesia, ”said Yasonna Laoly.
The House of Representatives commission that oversees legal matters agreed on the final draft on Wednesday and the bill will go to a parliamentary plenary session on September 24 where it will become law.
"This is a formality because all parties in Parliament agree," Laoly said.
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Once ratified, the law will take approximately two years to take effect so that the public and the police can familiarize themselves with the new regulations.
Rights groups say that many of the articles would discriminate against women, religious minorities, members of the LGBT community, as well as hinder freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.
Andreas Harsonso, a senior Indonesian researcher at Human Rights Watch, said that the next century "would probably be disastrous for minorities in Indonesia."
Under the proposed law, extramarital sex can be punished with up to one year in prison and couples can be prosecuted if a close family files a police report.
Rights groups say that while the article does not specifically mention same-sex behavior, it effectively penalizes all relationships between homosexuals. Members of the LGBT community, who already face persecution and discrimination in the country, could also be the target of a vaguely written article that criminalizes "obscene acts" with a penalty of up to six months in prison.
And unmarried couples who are reported to the police for living together could be sentenced to six months in prison or receive a fine. The village chief can also file a police complaint if the nearby family does not object.
Among the many changes to existing laws, the draft code states that only doctors have the right to decide to perform an abortion and a woman could face four years in prison for having one. Anyone who helps a woman to terminate her pregnancy faces five years in jail.
The code would also make it a criminal offense to insult the president or vice president, which raises concerns related to the oppression of press freedom.
The director of the Legal Assistance Foundation of Indonesia, Asfinawati, which like many Indonesians has only one name, said the new penal code is a setback for democracy in the country.
"There are some articles that can easily take people to jail and many multiple interpretations of those articles," Asfinawati said, adding that they would conduct a judicial review.
Another provision extends the current blasphemy law and maintains the maximum penalty of five years in prison, according to Human Rights Watch. The group said that more than 150 people, most of them from religious minorities, have been convicted by law since its approval in 1965, including former Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Purnama in 2017.
Some see the law as evidence that hard-line religious forces are influencing politics, an issue that was a major issue during the recent elections, and the growing Islamic conservatism and intolerance against minorities in the country.
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If passed, the law "will confirm that Indonesia is becoming an Islamic state," Harsono said. "The unwritten part of all these arguments is that it is based on Islamic sharia less lashes."
The northern province of Banda Aceh is the only one in the country where Sharia law or Islamic law governs, and those who are found guilty of violating strict morality laws are whipped in public.
Law Minister Yasonna Laoly said it was a "great misperception" and called the law a "legacy", as the Indonesians made the bill for the Indonesians.
“Not all people agreed with some articles, if we had to listen to everyone, we would never finish this bill, but we have done the best. We have listened to all, all the experts, political parties and we try to come with rules that can be accepted, ”he said.
- CNN Angus Watson contributed to this news