TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Ministry pushes for deliberation of int'l civil law bill
The Foreign Ministry is working to build momentum for the discussion of an international civil law bill after years of it being shelved, in a move that aims to ride the wave of reform currently being pursued by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo
Change Size
T
he Foreign Ministry is working to build momentum for the discussion of an international civil law bill after years of it being shelved, in a move that aims to ride the wave of reform currently being pursued by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.
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.
As the ministry’s primary legal advisor, Damos said that legal certainty in the civil law space was becoming increasingly important because the intensity of people-to-people contact between Indonesians and foreigners through marriage, business and trade had increased.
“There used to be a proposal for this law, but we haven't found the right opportunity to push it through,” he said.
But things can still change.
Jokowi wishes to introduce wide-ranging legal reforms to increase ease of doing business in Indonesia through his so-called omnibus bills, which take a wholesale approach to cutting red tape that some observers worry transfers too much power to the President.
Indonesia currently sits middle of the table in the World Justice Project’s 2019 Rule of Law index at 64th place, behind Singapore (13) and Malaysia (51) but ahead of India (68) and China (82). The index measures countries’ adherence to the rule of law from the perspective of ordinary people and their experiences.
According to another World Justice Project report, the 2019 Global Insights on Access to Justice, which is based on a 2017 polling, more than a quarter of the Indonesian population have experienced a legal problem in the past two years, while only 69 percent of cases were fully resolved. (tjs)
