Businesses are criticizing plans by Jakarta\u2019s governor to close hotels and entertainment venues without warning as part of a vice crackdown, setting up a fight between a powerful lobby and a fast-rising politician backed by Islamic conservatives.<\/p>\n
The crackdown makes good on a campaign pledge by the governor, Anies Baswedan, who benefited from\u00a0hard-line Muslim support<\/a>\u00a0in an election last year that removed a minority Christian from office. The then incumbent Basuki Tjahaja Purnama was also convicted of\u00a0blasphemy against Islam and is serving a\u00a0two-year prison sentence<\/a>.<\/p>\n Indonesia, the world\u2019s largest Muslim-majority nation, has traditionally been home to a tolerant strain of Islam.\u00a0But rising conservatism<\/a>, in the nearly 90% of Indonesia\u2019s 250 million population identifying as Muslims, has played a larger role in politics in recent years.<\/p>\n In addition to Mr. Baswedan\u2019s local crackdown, national lawmakers are negotiating a revised criminal code. Under proposals by Islamic political parties, sex outside marriage, gay sex and cohabitation of unmarried couples would become illegal. In Aceh, the only province that is\u00a0governed by Shariah law<\/a>, non-Muslims have recently been\u00a0flogged for violating rules<\/a>against gambling.<\/p>\n