​West Java city will punish young couples caught dating after 9pm by forcing them to get married

Teenagers living in the city of Purwakarta, West Java, better start being careful about using protection on dates – and by protection we mean the alarm clock feature on their phones.

That’s because, starting today, they have a hard 9pm curfew on doing anything with their boyfriends or girlfriends. And if they break that curfew, they won’t just get fined, thrown in jail or even whipped. Instead, the city government says it will force them to get married. 

That’s according to Kabar24, which reported that the regent of Purwakarta, Dedy Mulyadi, has instructed all 193 of his village heads to routinely conduct raids for immoral post-9pm boyfriend/girlfriend visitations.

“[If caught] we will force them to get married,” Dedi told his village heads, 87 of whom were recently appointed, on Monday. 

The village and sub-district heads attending Dedi’s meeting bobbed their heads and agreed in chorus. 

Dedi said the threat of forced marriage was not a bluff. He said the policy will be implemented in all villages and sub-districts simultaneously starting on the first day of September.

The goal, Dedi explained, was to prevent cases of “immorality that corrupt youth” while also forcing them to honor their parents.

The regent said that the curfew still had to be drafted into regulation at the subdistrict and village level in order to have a legal basis, but he was confident that it could be completed by mid-September. 

We’re not sure where they are hoping to find a legal basis for forcing people to get married, since we’re pretty sure that’s totally illegal everywhere. But it doesn’t seem like a major concern for Dedi or his henchmen, er… village heads.

The head of Cilandak village, Dadan Jakaria, for example, said he had no problems with Dedi’s instructions.

 “It’s for the common good and to create a civilized society,” Dadan said, presumably while stroking his beard. 

Right. Because only uncivilized societies give teenagers the freedom to socialize after 9pm and treat them like responsible young adults. Civilized societies have authorities peeping through windows looking for kids getting it on and force young people to get married for breaking a curfew. Makes total sense to us. 



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