The Challenges for Court Reform after Authoritarian Rule: The Role of Specialized Courts in Indonesia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31078/consrev711Keywords:
Authoritarian Rule, Corruption, Court Reform, Judicial IndependenceAbstract
Political transitions from authoritarian rule may lead to a process of court reform. Indeed, court reform has been a central pillar of the law and development movement since the 1960s. What challenges do court reform efforts face after authoritarian rule in Indonesia and to what extent can specialized courts address these challenges? In this article, I examine court reform and the establishment of specialized courts in Indonesia post-1998. I argue that we need to pay attention to the politics of court reform after authoritarian rule. Specialized courts as a type of institutional reform need to be considered together with judicial culture in order to address fundamental challenges in the courts.
References
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Butt, Simon. “Indonesia’s Anti-corruption Courts and the Persistence of Judicial Culture.” In The Politics of Court Reform: Judicial Change and Legal Culture in Indonesia, edited by Melissa Crouch. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2019.
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Cotterrell, Roger. “The Sociological Concept of Law.” Journal of Law and Society 10 (1983).
Crouch, Melissa. “Judicial Review and Religious Freedom: The Case of Indonesian Ahmadis.” Sydney Law Review 34, no. 3 (2012).
Crouch, Melissa. “Asian Legal Transplants and Lessons on the Rule of Law: National Human Rights Commissions in Indonesia and Myanmar.” Hague Journal of the Rule of Law, 15, no. 2 (2013).
Crouch, Melissa. Law and Religion in Indonesia: Conflict and the Courts in West Java. London: Routledge, 2014.
Crouch, Melissa. “Constitutionalism, Islam and the Practise of Religious Deference: The Case of the Indonesian Constitutional Court.” Australian Journal of Asian Law 16, no. 2 (2016).
Crouch, Melissa. “Islamic Law and Society in Southeast Asia.” In The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Law, edited by Anver M. Emon and Rumee Ahmed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.
Crouch, Melissa. “The Expansion of Emergency Powers: Social Conflict and the Military in Indonesia.” Asian Studies Review 41, no. 3 (2017).
Crouch, Melissa. “Religion, Constitutionalism and Inequality: Perspectives from Asia.” Asian Journal of Comparative Law 13, no. 2 (2018).
Crouch, Melissa and Antje Missbach. “The Criminalisation of People Smuggling: Legal Insights from Indonesia.” Australian Journal of Asian Law 14, no. 2 (2013).
Engel, David M. “The Uses of Legal Culture in Contemporary Socio-Legal Studies: A Response to Sally Engle Merry.” Journal of Comparative Law 5 (2010).
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The Politics of Court Reform: Judicial Change and Legal Culture in Indonesia,
edited by Melissa Crouch. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2019.
Klare, Karl E. “Legal Culture and Transformative Constitutionalism.” South African
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Lev, Daniel S. Islamic Courts in Indonesia: A Study in the Political Bases of Legal
Institutions. Berkley: University of California Press, 1972.
Lev, Daniel S. “Judicial Institutions and Legal Culture.” In Culture and Politics in Indonesia, edited by Claire Holt Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1972.
Lev, Daniel S. “Judicial Unification in Post-Colonial Indonesia.” Indonesia 16 (1973).
Lev, Daniel S. “Social Movements, Constitutionalism, and Human Rights.” In Constitutionalism, Democracy, and the Transformation of the Modern World, edited by Douglas Greenberg, Stanley N. Katz, Melanie Oliviero and Steven Wheatley. London and New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1993.
Lev, Daniel S. “Between State and Society: Professional Lawyers and Reform in Indonesia.” In Making Indonesia, edited by Daniel S. Lev and Ruth McVey. Ithaca: Cornell Southeast Asia Program Publications, 1996.
Lev, Daniel S. “Comments on the Course of Legal Reform in Modern Indonesia.” In Indonesia: Bankruptcy, Law Reform, and the Commercial Court, edited by Tim Lindsey. Sydney: Desert Pea Press, 2000.
Lev, Daniel S. “Introduction.” In Legal Evolution and Political Authority in Indonesia: Selected Essays. The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 2000.
Lev, Daniel S. Legal Evolution and Political Authority in Indonesia: Selected Essays. The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 2000.
Lev, Daniel S. “Conceptual Filters and Obfuscation in the Study of Indonesian Politics.” Asian Studies Review 29, no. 4 (2005).
Lev, Daniel S. “State and Law Reform in Indonesia.” In Law Reform in Developing and Transitional States, edited by Tim Lindsey. London: Routledge, 2005.
Linnan, David. “Commercial Law Enforcement in Indonesia: The Manulife Case.” In Indonesia: Law & Society, edited by. Tim Lindsey. Sydney: Federation Press, 2008.
Linnan, David. “Reading the Tea Leaves in the Indonesian Commercial Court: A Cautionary Tale, But for Whom?” In New Courts in Asia, edited by Andrew Harding and Pip Nicholson. London: Routledge, 2010.
Merry, Sally Engle. “What is Legal Culture? An Anthropological Perspective.” Journal of Comparative Law 5 (2010).
Nelken, David. “Towards a Sociology of Legal Adaptation.” In Adapting Legal Cultures, edited by David Nelken and Johannes Feest. Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2001.
Nelken, David. “Legal Cultures.” In The Blackwell Companion to Law and Society, edited by Austin Sarat. Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2003.
Nelken, David. “Comparative Legal Research and Legal Culture: Facts, Approaches, and Values.” Annual Review of Law and Social Science 12 (2016).
Nicholson, Pip and Andrew Harding. New Courts in Asia. London: Routledge, 2010.
Perry, Nick. “Daniel Lev; Scholar, Friend of Indonesia.” Seattle Times, August 1, 2006, http://old.seattletimes.com/html/obituaries/2003166510_levobit01m. html.
Pompe, Sebastiaan. “In Memoriam, Daniel S. Lev (1933-2006).” Indonesia 93 (2012).
Pompe, Sebastiaan. The Supreme Court of Indonesia: A Study of Institutional
Collapse. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2005.
Reerink, Gustaaf, Kevin Omar Sidharta, Aria Suyudi and Sophie Hewitt. “The Commercial Courts: A Story of Unfinished Reforms.” In The Politics of Court Reform: Judicial Change and Legal Culture in Indonesia, edited by Melissa Crouch. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 2019.
Riles, Annelise. “A New Agenda for the Cultural Study of Law: Taking on the Technicalities.” Buffalo Law Review 53 (2005).
Rosen, Lawrence. Law and Culture: An Invitation. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006.
Saptaningrum, Indriaswati Dyah. “The Fisheries Court: Government-Led Judicial Development.” In The Politics of Court Reform: Judicial Change and Legal Culture in Indonesia, edited by Melissa Crouch. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 2019.
Setiawan, Ken. “The Human Rights Courts: Embedding Impunity.” In The Politics of Court Reform: Judicial Change and Legal Culture in Indonesia, edited by Melissa Crouch. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 2019.
Shapiro, Martin. Courts, a Comparative and Political Analysis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981.
Silbey, Susan S. “After Legal Consciousness.” Annual Review of Law and Social Science 1 (2005).
Susan S. Silbey. “Making a Place for Cultural Analyses of Law. Law & Social Inquiry, Vol. 17, no 1 (Winter, 1992).
Tjandra, Surya. Labour Law and Development in Indonesia. Leiden: Leiden University Press, 2016.
Tjandra, Surya. “The Industrial Relations Court: Challenges for Labour Rights.” In
The Politics of Court Reform: Judicial Change and Legal Culture in Indonesia, edited by Melissa Crouch. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 2019.
Assegaf, Rifqi. “The Supreme Court: Reformasi, Independence and the Failure to Ensure Legal Certainty.” In The Politics of Court Reform: Judicial Change and Legal Culture in Indonesia, edited by Melissa Crouch. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2019.
Bedner, Adriaan. Administrative Courts in Indonesia: A Socio-Legal Study. The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 2001.
Bedner, Adriaan. “Rebuilding the Judiciary in Indonesia: The Special Courts Strategy.” Yuridika 23, no. 3 (2008).
Bedner, Adriaan and Herlambang Perdana Wiratraman. “The Administrative Courts: The Quest for Consistency.” In The Politics of Court Reform: Judicial Change and Legal Culture in Indonesia, edited by Melissa Crouch. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2019.
Butt, Simon. Corruption and Law in Indonesia. London, New York: Routledge, 2012.
Butt, Simon. The Constitutional Court and Democracy in Indonesia. Leiden:
Brill Nijhoff, 2015.
Butt, Simon, Rosalind Dixon, and Melissa Crouch. “Special Issue: The First Decade of Indonesia’s Constitutional Court.” Australian Journal of Asian Law 16, no. 2 (2016).
Butt, Simon. “Indonesia’s Anti-corruption Courts and the Persistence of Judicial Culture.” In The Politics of Court Reform: Judicial Change and Legal Culture in Indonesia, edited by Melissa Crouch. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2019.
Cammack, Mark. “Indonesia’s Human Rights Court.” In New Courts in Asia, edited by Andrew Harding and Pip Nicholson. London: Routledge, 2010.
Cotterrell, Roger. Law, Culture and Society: Legal Ideas in the Mirror of Social Theory. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006.
Cotterrell, Roger. “The Sociological Concept of Law.” Journal of Law and Society 10 (1983).
Crouch, Melissa. “Judicial Review and Religious Freedom: The Case of Indonesian Ahmadis.” Sydney Law Review 34, no. 3 (2012).
Crouch, Melissa. “Asian Legal Transplants and Lessons on the Rule of Law: National Human Rights Commissions in Indonesia and Myanmar.” Hague Journal of the Rule of Law, 15, no. 2 (2013).
Crouch, Melissa. Law and Religion in Indonesia: Conflict and the Courts in West Java. London: Routledge, 2014.
Crouch, Melissa. “Constitutionalism, Islam and the Practise of Religious Deference: The Case of the Indonesian Constitutional Court.” Australian Journal of Asian Law 16, no. 2 (2016).
Crouch, Melissa. “Islamic Law and Society in Southeast Asia.” In The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Law, edited by Anver M. Emon and Rumee Ahmed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.
Crouch, Melissa. “The Expansion of Emergency Powers: Social Conflict and the Military in Indonesia.” Asian Studies Review 41, no. 3 (2017).
Crouch, Melissa. “Religion, Constitutionalism and Inequality: Perspectives from Asia.” Asian Journal of Comparative Law 13, no. 2 (2018).
Crouch, Melissa and Antje Missbach. “The Criminalisation of People Smuggling: Legal Insights from Indonesia.” Australian Journal of Asian Law 14, no. 2 (2013).
Engel, David M. “The Uses of Legal Culture in Contemporary Socio-Legal Studies: A Response to Sally Engle Merry.” Journal of Comparative Law 5 (2010).
Engel, David M. and Jaruwan S. Engel. Tort, Custom and Karma: Globalisation and Legal Consciousness in Thailand. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2010.
Feener, Michael. Sharia and Social Engineering: The Implementation of Islamic Law in Contemporary Aceh, Indonesia. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
Friedman, Lawrence. “Legal Culture and Social Development.” Law and Society Review 4 (1969).
Friedman, Lawrence. Law and Society: An Introduction. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1977.
Geertz, Clifford. “Ideology as a Cultural System.” In Ideology and Discontent, edited by David Apter. New York: Free Press of Glencoe, 1964.
Geertz, Clifford. “Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture.” In The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays. New York: Basic Books, 1973.
Halliday, Simon and Bronwyn Morgan. “I Fought the Law and the Law Won? Legal Consciousness and the Critical Imagination.” Current Legal Problems 66 (2013).
Huis, Stijn Cornelis van. “The Religious Courts: Does Lev’s Analysis Still Hold?” In The Politics of Court Reform: Judicial Change and Legal Culture in Indonesia, edited by Melissa Crouch. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2019.
Indrayana, Denny. Indonesian Constitutional Reform 1999-2002: An Evaluation of Constitution-Making in Transition. Jakarta: Kompas, 2008.
Juwana, Hikmahanto. “Courts in Indonesia: A Mix of Western and Local Character.” In Asian Courts in Context, edited by Jiunn-rong Yeh and Wen-Chen Chang. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014.
Kadafi, Binziad. “The Small Claims Court: An Innovation in Judicial Reform.” In
The Politics of Court Reform: Judicial Change and Legal Culture in Indonesia,
edited by Melissa Crouch. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2019.
Klare, Karl E. “Legal Culture and Transformative Constitutionalism.” South African
Journal on Human Rights 14 (1998).
Lev, Daniel S. “The Politics of Judicial Development in Indonesia.” Comparative
Studies in Society and History 7 (1965).
Lev, Daniel S. Islamic Courts in Indonesia: A Study in the Political Bases of Legal
Institutions. Berkley: University of California Press, 1972.
Lev, Daniel S. “Judicial Institutions and Legal Culture.” In Culture and Politics in Indonesia, edited by Claire Holt Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1972.
Lev, Daniel S. “Judicial Unification in Post-Colonial Indonesia.” Indonesia 16 (1973).
Lev, Daniel S. “Social Movements, Constitutionalism, and Human Rights.” In Constitutionalism, Democracy, and the Transformation of the Modern World, edited by Douglas Greenberg, Stanley N. Katz, Melanie Oliviero and Steven Wheatley. London and New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1993.
Lev, Daniel S. “Between State and Society: Professional Lawyers and Reform in Indonesia.” In Making Indonesia, edited by Daniel S. Lev and Ruth McVey. Ithaca: Cornell Southeast Asia Program Publications, 1996.
Lev, Daniel S. “Comments on the Course of Legal Reform in Modern Indonesia.” In Indonesia: Bankruptcy, Law Reform, and the Commercial Court, edited by Tim Lindsey. Sydney: Desert Pea Press, 2000.
Lev, Daniel S. “Introduction.” In Legal Evolution and Political Authority in Indonesia: Selected Essays. The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 2000.
Lev, Daniel S. Legal Evolution and Political Authority in Indonesia: Selected Essays. The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 2000.
Lev, Daniel S. “Conceptual Filters and Obfuscation in the Study of Indonesian Politics.” Asian Studies Review 29, no. 4 (2005).
Lev, Daniel S. “State and Law Reform in Indonesia.” In Law Reform in Developing and Transitional States, edited by Tim Lindsey. London: Routledge, 2005.
Linnan, David. “Commercial Law Enforcement in Indonesia: The Manulife Case.” In Indonesia: Law & Society, edited by. Tim Lindsey. Sydney: Federation Press, 2008.
Linnan, David. “Reading the Tea Leaves in the Indonesian Commercial Court: A Cautionary Tale, But for Whom?” In New Courts in Asia, edited by Andrew Harding and Pip Nicholson. London: Routledge, 2010.
Merry, Sally Engle. “What is Legal Culture? An Anthropological Perspective.” Journal of Comparative Law 5 (2010).
Nelken, David. “Towards a Sociology of Legal Adaptation.” In Adapting Legal Cultures, edited by David Nelken and Johannes Feest. Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2001.
Nelken, David. “Legal Cultures.” In The Blackwell Companion to Law and Society, edited by Austin Sarat. Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2003.
Nelken, David. “Comparative Legal Research and Legal Culture: Facts, Approaches, and Values.” Annual Review of Law and Social Science 12 (2016).
Nicholson, Pip and Andrew Harding. New Courts in Asia. London: Routledge, 2010.
Perry, Nick. “Daniel Lev; Scholar, Friend of Indonesia.” Seattle Times, August 1, 2006, http://old.seattletimes.com/html/obituaries/2003166510_levobit01m. html.
Pompe, Sebastiaan. “In Memoriam, Daniel S. Lev (1933-2006).” Indonesia 93 (2012).
Pompe, Sebastiaan. The Supreme Court of Indonesia: A Study of Institutional
Collapse. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2005.
Reerink, Gustaaf, Kevin Omar Sidharta, Aria Suyudi and Sophie Hewitt. “The Commercial Courts: A Story of Unfinished Reforms.” In The Politics of Court Reform: Judicial Change and Legal Culture in Indonesia, edited by Melissa Crouch. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 2019.
Riles, Annelise. “A New Agenda for the Cultural Study of Law: Taking on the Technicalities.” Buffalo Law Review 53 (2005).
Rosen, Lawrence. Law and Culture: An Invitation. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006.
Saptaningrum, Indriaswati Dyah. “The Fisheries Court: Government-Led Judicial Development.” In The Politics of Court Reform: Judicial Change and Legal Culture in Indonesia, edited by Melissa Crouch. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 2019.
Setiawan, Ken. “The Human Rights Courts: Embedding Impunity.” In The Politics of Court Reform: Judicial Change and Legal Culture in Indonesia, edited by Melissa Crouch. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 2019.
Shapiro, Martin. Courts, a Comparative and Political Analysis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981.
Silbey, Susan S. “After Legal Consciousness.” Annual Review of Law and Social Science 1 (2005).
Susan S. Silbey. “Making a Place for Cultural Analyses of Law. Law & Social Inquiry, Vol. 17, no 1 (Winter, 1992).
Tjandra, Surya. Labour Law and Development in Indonesia. Leiden: Leiden University Press, 2016.
Tjandra, Surya. “The Industrial Relations Court: Challenges for Labour Rights.” In
The Politics of Court Reform: Judicial Change and Legal Culture in Indonesia, edited by Melissa Crouch. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 2019.
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Published
2021-05-31
How to Cite
Crouch, M. (2021). The Challenges for Court Reform after Authoritarian Rule: The Role of Specialized Courts in Indonesia. Constitutional Review, 7(1), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.31078/consrev711
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