Volume 6 Number 1, January - April 2016 INDONESIALaw Review
Editorial
The first edition of Indonesia Law Review (ILRev) in 2016 continues presenting most recent development of various legal issues in Indonesia. This edition covers issues regarding labour migration, human trafficking, bio diversity protection, judicial review on administrative action, ecological justice and peasants land rights in Indonesia. The broad range of discussion presented in ILRev pictures the dynamic of laws and legal practices in Indonesia.
Over the world, economic growth of a country is sponsored partly by migrants.1 Migrants have been contributed to the labour market in both high and low skilled occupations in the receiving countries.2 According to data gathered by Department of Statistics of ILO in its ILO Global Estimates on Migrant Workers published in 2015, almost ten percent of total 150.3 million migrant workers are migrant domestic workers.3 In this regard, millions of Indonesian nationals choose to seek brighter opportunities as migrant domestic workers in foreign countries. Malaysia is one of the favored destinations as it demands high number of domestic workers, in addition to its geographical situation which is close to Indonesia and the common culture and language.4 In some cases, migrant domestic workers are often situated in fragile positions which result in prosecution of rights in receiving countries. Those situations are caused by the lack of protection in the receiving countries and from the origin countries. In the first article titled “Abused and Alone: Legal Redress for Migrant Domestic Workers in Malaysia,” authors identify laws and policies in Malaysia which viewed to have holes in protecting the rights of migrant domestic workers in Malaysia. Authors then continue by giving best practice from other countries regarding the realization of the workers’ rights.
Besides labour migration, human trafficking has become one of the global issues which cause millions of people tortured, humiliated and even murdered. In the region of South East Asia, trafficking in persons is conducted across borders within the region. Particularly in Indonesia and Thailand, both countries are dealing with massive numbers of trafficking in persons in their fisheries industries. In the effort to combat trafficking in fisheries industries in Indonesia and Thailand, the author of the second article titled “Indonesia & Thailand: Maltreatment/Forced Labor/TIP in Fisheries in Indonesia/Thailand” raises unique perspective. The author merges the use of international treaties and agreements which Indonesia and Thailand are parties, their domestic regulations and U.S. Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act Year 2000 (U.S. TVPA). The author views U.S. TVPA as one of the push factors for the government of Indonesia and Thailand to mend their national legislations and policy to combat trafficking in fisheries industry.
The third article titled “Bridging the Implementation of the Nagoya-Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress in Indonesia”
1 International Labour Organization (1), “The Contribution of Labour Mobility to Economic Growth,”
Joint Paper for G20 Labour and Employment Ministers’ Meeting, Ankara, Turkey, 3-4 September 2015, p. 2.
2 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, “Is Migration Good for the Economy?”
https://www.oecd.org/migration/OECD%20Migration%20Policy%20Debates%20Numero%202.pdf, ac- cessed 28 April 2016.
3 International Labour Organization (2), ILO Global Estimates on Migrant Workers: Results and Method- ology (Special Focus on Migrant Domestic Workers), (Geneva: ILO, 2015), p. xi.
4 Alice Huling, “Domestic Workers in Malaysia: Hidden Victims of Abuse and Forced Labor,” New York University Journal of International Law & Politics Vol. 44 Issue 2 (Winter 2012): 643.
Volume 6 Number 1, January - April 2016 INDONESIALaw Review
highlights Indonesia’s position as a mega biodiversity nation. In regards to biological diversity, Indonesia has ratified United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity5 and its protocols: Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety6 and Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing.7 In this matter, Indonesia has not ratified Nagoya - Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety,8 a supplementary of Cartagena Protocol. The Supplementary Protocol governs liability and redress for damage resulting from the transboundary movements of living modified organism.9 In this article, author assesses regulations and practices in Indonesia to discover its readiness to ratify the supplementary protocol and suggests actions needed to implement in order to guard biodiversity of Indonesia.
“Judicial Review of Administrative Action: Reflection of the Bank Century Bailout Policy” as the fourth article discusses the balance of administrative action and public rights. The author sets the Century Bank bailout policy as the study of the analysis. The author stresses that in policy or administrative actions taken by the government in time of crisis should honor good administrative principles.
Human beings have desire to exploit natural resources, while on the other side, human beings also acknowledge that according to their religious values or scientific findings, other living organisms share similar rights to be conserved.10In making the most benefit of natural resources for human welfare as well as to preserve the sustainability of nature, the term of “environmental justice” or “ecological justice” is more and more commonly sounded. According to Low and Gleeson, this term points to:
… the justice of the distribution of environments among peoples, and the justice of the relations between humans and the rest of the natural world.11
In this article, “Access to Ecological Justice for The Marginalized People of Indonesia: Is It a Genuine or Pseudo Recognition and Respect?” the author criticizes whether access to ecological justice of the indigenous people (masyarakatadat) in Indonesia is genuinely provided in the Indonesian Constitution and truly executed.
The authors of the sixth article titled “Peasants’ Land Rights Claims Over Plantation Companies’ Sites in Central Java, Indonesia (1998-2014)” wish to
5 Indonesia, Undang-Undang tentang Pengesahan Konvensi Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa Mengenai Ke- anekaragaman Hayati [Law regarding Ratification of United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity].UU No. 5 Tahun 1994, LN No. 41 Tahun 1994 [Law No. 5 Year 1994, SG No. 41 Year 1994].
6 Indonesia, Undang-Undang tentang Pengesahan Protokol Cartagena Tentang Keamanan Hayati Atas Konvensi Tentang Keanekaragaman Hayati [Law regarding Ratification of Cartagena Protocol On Biosafety To The Convention On Biological Diversity]. UU No. 21 Tahun 2004, LN No. 88 Tahun 2004 [Law No. 21 Year 2004, SG No. 88 Year 2004].
7 Indonesia, Undang-Undang tentang Pengesahan Protokol Nagoya Tentang Akses Pada Sumber Daya Genetik dan Pembagian Keuntungan yang Adil dan Seimbang yang Timbul dari Pemanfaatannya atas Konvensi Keanekaragaman Hayati [Law regarding Nagoya Protocol On Access To Genetic Resources And The Fair And Equitable Sharing Of Benefits Arising From Their Utilization To The Convention On Biological Diversity]. UU No. 11 Tahun 2013, LN No. 73 Tahun 2013 [Law No. 11 Year 2013, SG No. 73 Year 2013].
8 UN Treaties, “Status of Nagoya - Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety,”https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_
no=XXVII-8-c&chapter=27&lang=en, accessed 25 April 2016.
9 Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity United Nations Environment Programme, “ The Nagoya – Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol On Liability And Redress To The Cartagena Protocol On:
Biosafety An Introductory Note in Preparation for Signature and Ratification,” http://bch.cbd.int/nkl_suppl_
protocol/introductorynote.pdf, accessed 18 April 2016.
10 Brian Baxter, A Theory of Ecological Justice (New York: Routlede, 2005), p. 2.
11 Ibid., p. 7.
Volume 6 Number 1, January - April 2016 INDONESIALaw Review enlighten the readers on the cases of land dispute in Central Java. Two cases are discussed thoroughly in this article and the authors succeed to tell chronologically the dispute of the land, the redress from the government and analyzes those cases with local laws and international treaties.
This number ends with a book review of a book authored by Professor JimlyAsshiddiqie, professor of law at Universitas Indonesia discussing Court of Ethics and Constitutional Ethics. In the end, the editorial board of ILRevhopes that these articles give large contribution to scholarly articles on Indonesian laws and legal practices. ILRev strives to be a credible and internationally acknowledged Indonesian law journal.
