Indonesia

For almost three centuries, Indonesia was a colony of the Dutch United East India Company, finally proclaiming its independence in 1945. Inevitably, the Dutch legal system, a continental civil law system, has had a very strong influence on Indonesia. Indonesia has established a national law and judiciary to replace the earlier local courts created by Emergency Law No. 1/1951. Indonesia is still vulnerable to tensions and conflicts triggered by clashing concepts and values between traditional and modern concerns, majority and minority politics, and native and nonnative cultures. The latter is illustrated by the religious influence of the Chinese, Arabs, and Indians. Furthermore, regional conflicts within Indonesia keep interrupting the process of national development and unity as well as political stability.

Sociolegal research is still at a ...