The ministry’s director general for legal affairs and international treaties, Damos Agusman, said Thursday that there was a need to put in place an international civil law to support the President’s focus on economic diplomacy and increase businesses’ and investors’ confidence in Indonesia.

“This actually falls under the responsibility of the Law and Human Rights Ministry but the Foreign Ministry has stepped up considering the urgency in an era of globalization and international relations that requires us to have an adequate legal system,” Damos told reporters on the sidelines of a workshop held at the ministerial compound in Jakarta on Thursday.

The international civil law bill, which would ratify existing international conventions and protocols, was included in the 2020-2024 National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) but was shelved from the House of Representatives’ 2020 priority list.

“The politicking for legislation in the legislative complex is quite dynamic, so we need a certain boost for the bill to go through,” he acknowledged. “If Indonesia wants to be the fourth-largest producer [of goods] instead of the fourth-biggest consumer [market], this bill is very important for us.”

Constitutional law expert Jimly Asshiddiqie said that such laws had been widely debated in academia considering Indonesia had yet to sign or ratify the various relevant international conventions, which he said could in turn hamper Indonesia’s participation in international business relations.

“For instance, when it comes to judicial matters, if we try to draft a contract right now, some 80 percent of its content deals with dispute resolution under the international arbitration system, which is the prevailing law – but not our law,” Jimly said.

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