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 rudimentary stage. Although it is part of academic activity, law is studied merely as one variable of the political system, whose role is to legitimate existing governmental power. Nevertheless, how law functions in reality has become a concern. The Indonesian judicial system was put under the executive branch to bring about and maintain consistency in national power. Courts' verdicts were not accessible to the public. The study of sociological jurisprudence was considered to belong in the sociology department. Legal scholars and lawyers mainly view law through a normative and legalistic lens.

Beginning in the late 1990s, nongovernmental organizations have grown significantly in number, starting to take on law and society studies and thus moving them out of the universities. Their activities cover issues of human rights, law, and social justice. Nongovernmental organization members are not only researchers but also activists. Two main events have created this new landscape.

First, once the military regime was overthrown, an economic crisis led to the awakening of new ideas. The media were liberalized and information became unbridled. Good governance and transparency are continually invoked as important standards. Young scholars have benefited from studying abroad, and guided by idealism, they have become a new catalyst for social change. They act as watchdogs who are critical of officials who do not respond to the deprivation of people's rights, are indifferent to the obstruction of justice, or in general do not carry out their functions.

Second, judicial system reform is under way, starting with the promotion of an independent judiciary. Projects are establishing legal infrastructure, such as commercial courts. A National Law Committee, set up in 2000, has established task forces to draw up plans, coordinate and generate resources, and in general form an improved national law.