Plans by Indonesian government to start chemically castrating convicted paedophiles as a punishment besides jail terms in an effort to combat an alarming rate of child sex abuse, has been announced.
Revealing the plan on Tuesday was the country’s Attorney-General Muhammad Prasetyo who said the move was agreed at a cabinet meeting led by President Joko Widodo.
There has been an alarming rise in child abuse cases in the Southeast Asian nation with cases jumping from 2,178 in 2011 to 5,066 in 2014.
Prasetyo said the punishment would be authorised soon through a presidential directive, which means it will automatically become law without parliament having to vote on it.
It would be carried out by injecting paedophiles with female hormones that would reduce sex drive, he said.
If the plan comes to fruition, Indonesia will join countries like Poland and some states in the US where they use chemical castration against child sex offenders.
In 2011, South Korea became the first Asian country to legalise the punishment.
