Positioning Adat Law in the Indonesia’s Legal System: Historical Discourse and Current Development on Customary Law
Abstract
Adat law has been narrowly understood, mainly as part of private law, in the curricula of Indonesian law schools. This is in contrary to the original intent of adat law, both as an academic and policy discourse, at the first place, which was as an attempt to develop a legal system that is suitable to govern the Netherlands East Indies (NEI) for preventing violation against the indigenous sense of justice. This article seeks to clarify the actual purpose of Adat Law, as it conceived, in the living of traditional community and the relation between adat law and Indonesian state law following the Indonesian independence. Subsequently, this article would explore how constitutional law and administrative laws (staatsrecht) would place “Adat law” under the Indonesian legal system that might be well claimed as an autochthonous law of Indonesia. It is a legal writing that uses historical, statutory, and case approaches. It has been found out that Adat Law scholarship had a pragmatic purpose i.e. to administer justice and govern the NEI colony that reflects a characteristic of public law. The later development showed that the law has shifted its focus into private law fields such as the law of persons, marriage and family laws, property and inheritance laws. Such shifting leads Adat law into an obscured relation between Adat Law and public laws in the era of the post-independence of Indonesia. It can be concluded that under historical inquiry, the Basic Law of 1945 (Indonesian Constitution) has strongly inspired by Adat Law. The same goes for administrative law, which in this case is represented by BAL that governs not only land administration but all kinds of natural resources in Indonesia until nowadays.
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References
BOOK
Bourchier, D. Illiberal Democracy in Indonesia:The Ideology of the Family State. London: Routledge, 2015.
Burns, Peter. The Leiden Legacy. Concepts of Law in Indonesia. Leiden: KITLV Press, 2004.
Bushar Muhammad. Asas-Asas Hukum Adat. Suatu Pengantar. Ed. IX. Jakarta: Pradnja Paramita, 1994.
Dewan Pertimbangan Agung RI. Tudjuh Bahan Pokok Indoktrinasi. Jakarta: DPA RI, 1961.
Elson, Robert Edward. The Idea of Indonesia. A History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Harsono, Budi. Hukum Agraria Indonesia. Sejarah pembentukan Undang- Undang Pokok Agraria, Isi dan Pelaksanaannya. Jilid 1 Hukum Tanah Nasional. Cet. IX. Jakarta: Djambatan, 2003.
Holleman, J.F. (Ed.) Van Vollenhoven on Indonesian Adat Law. Dordrecht: Springer Science, Business Media, 1981.
Hooker, Michael Barry. Adat Law in Modern Indonesia. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979.
Joyodiguno, M.M. Reorientasi Hukum dan Hukum Adat. Jogjakarta: PT.Penerbit Universitas, 1961.
Koesnoe, Moh. Hukum Adat sebagai Suatu Model Hukum. Bagian I (Historis). Bandung: Mandar Maju, 1992.
Simanjuntak, Marsilam. Pandangan Negara Integralistik: Sumber, Unsur dan Riwayatnya dalam Persiapan UUD 1945. Jakarta: Pustaka Utama Grafiti, 1994.
Soemadiningrat, Otje Salman. Rekonseptualisasi Hukum Adat Kontemporer. Bandung: Alumni, 2002.
Sudiyat, Iman. Asas-Asas Hukum Adat: Bekal Pengantar. Ed.III. Yogyakarta: Liberty, 2000.
Supomo. Kedudukan Hukum Adat di Kemudian Hari. Jakarta: Pustaka Rakyat, 1959.
Supomo. Bab-bab tentang Hukum Adat. Jakarta: Penerbitan Universitas, 1962.
Sukanto, Suryono and Soleman Taneko. Hukum Adat Indonesia. Cet. VI.Jakarta: RajaGrafindo Persada, 2003.
Ter Haar. B. Asas-Asas dan Susunan Hukum Adat. Transl. Subakti Pusponoto. Jakarta: Pradnja Paramita, 1985.
CHAPTER IN AN EDITED BOOK
Bourchier, David. “The Romance of Adat in the Indonesian Political Imagination and The Current Revival.” In The Revival of Tradition in Indonesian Politics: The Deployment of Adat from Colonialism to Indigenism, edited by Jamie S. Davidson and David Henley. Oxon, New York: Routledge, 2007.
Fasseur, Cess. “Colonial Dilemma: Van Vollenhoven and the Struggle Between Adat Law and Western Law in Indonesia.” In European Expansion and the Law, edited by Wolfgang J. Mommsen and Jaap A. de Moor. Oxford/New York: Berg, 1990.
Fitzpatrick, Daniel. “Beyond Dualism: Land Acquisition and law in Indonesia.” In Indonesia Law and Society, edited by Tim Lindsey, Fully Revised and expanded 2nd Edition. Singapore: The Federation Press, 2008.
Supomo. “The Future of Adat Law in the Reconstruction of Indonesia.” In Southeast Asia in the Coming World, edited by Philip Warren Thayer. Baltimore: John Hopkins Univesity Press, 1957.
Von Benda-Beckmann, Franz and Keebet Von Benda-Beckmann. “The Social Life of Living Law in Indonesia.” In Living Law. Reconsidering Eugen Ehrlich, edited by Marc Hertogh, 177-197. Oxford, Portland: Hart Publishing, 2009.
Wahyudi, Agus. “Human Rights and Corruption: Indonesian Case for Reconciling Universalism and Relativism.” in Human Rights and the Third World: Issues and Discourses, edited by Subrata Sankar Bagchi and Arnab Das, 81-98. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2013.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Agusman, Damos Damoli “The Dynamic Development on Indonesia’s Attitude toward International Law.” Indonesian Journal of International Law 13, no.1 (2015): 1-31. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17304/ijil.vol13.1.624
Buana, Mirza Satria. “Living adat Law, Indigenous Peoples and the State Law: A Complex Map of Legal Pluralism in Indonesia,” International Journal of Indonesian Studies 1, no. 3 (2016): 104-119.
Butt, Simon. “Traditional Land Rights before the Indonesian Constitutional Court”, Law, Environment and Development Journal 10, no.1 (2014): 57-73.
Engel, David M. “Adat Law in Modern Indonesia.” The American Journal of Comparative Law 28, no. 2 (1980): 352 354, https://doi.org/10.2307/839892
Fenrich, Jeanmarie and Mary McEvoy. “Promoting Rule of Law in Customary Tribunals in Ghana,” Harvard Human Rights Journal 11 (September 2014)
Fitzpatrick, Daniel. “Disputes and Pluralism in Modern Indonesian Land Law,” Yale Journal of International Law 22, no. 1 (1997): 171-212.
Gillespie, John. “Public Discourse and Constitutional Change: A Comparison of Vietnam and Indonesia.” Asian Journal of Comparative Law 11, no. 2 (2016): 209-218. https://doi.org/10.1017/asjcl.2016.17
Gold, Martin E. and Russell B. Zuckerman. “Indonesian Land Rights and Development,” Columbia Journal of Asian Law 28, no.1 (2014)
Miranda, Lillian Aponte. “Indigenous Peoples as International Lawmakers,” University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law 32, no. 1 (2010): 203.
Mosses, Morsen. “Custom as a Source of Law in Vanuatu: A Critical Analysis,” Journal of South Pacific Law, Special Edition (2017): 37-54.
Napoh, Datu Bua. “Recognition of the Customary Land Law in the Constitution of Indonesia and Malaysia,” Brawijaya Law Journal 2, no.2 (2015): 1-19.
Ndun, Hanna Christine, Sarah Suttor, and I Gusti Agung Ayu Dike Widhiyaastuti. “Does Customary Law Discriminate Balinese Women’s Inheritance Rights?.” Udayana Journal of Law and Culture 2, no. 1 (2018): 97-114. https://doi.org/10.24843/UJLC.2018.v02.i01.p05
Nurjaya, I Nyoman. “Is The Constitutional and Legal Recognition of Traditional Community Laws within the Multicultural Country of Indonesia: A Genuine or Pseudo Recognition?,” Constitutional Review 1, no.2 (2015): 49-68.
Perry, Robin. “Balancing Rights or Building Rights? Reconciling the Right to Use Customary Systems of Law with Competing Human Rights in Pursuit of Indigenous Sovereignty,” Harvard Human Rights Journal 24, no.1 (2011): 71-114.
Reid, Anthony. “Political “Tradition” in Indonesia: the One and the Many.” Asian Studies Review 22, no. 1 (1998): 23-38.
Sukarti, Dewi. “Customary Law of Inheritance and Migration: Adoption of The Old Regime or Adaptation to The New One?” Ahkam 17, no. 2, (2017): 301-320. https://doi.org/10.15408/ajis.v17i2.6236
Sukiati. “Hazairin’s Legal Thought And His Contribution Towards The Indonesian Legal System,” Journal of Indonesian Islam 6, no.1 (2012): 93-124.
Thorburn, Craig C. “A Long Row to Hoe: Decentralization, Reformasi, and Land Management Policy in Indonesia,” Asia Pacific Viewpoints 45, no. 1 (2004): 33-49.
Von Benda-Beckmann, Franz. and Keebet Von Benda-Beckmann. “Myths and Stereotypes about Adat Law. A reassessment of Van Vollenhoven in the Light of Current Struggles over Adat Law in Indonesia.” Bijdragen tot de Taal, Land en Volkenkunde 167, no. 2-3 (2011): 167-195. https://doi.org/10.1163/22134379-90003588
Von Benda-Beckmann, Keebet. “Forum Shopping and Shopping Forums: Dispute Processing in a Minangkabau Village in West Sumatra.” Journal of Legal Pluralism 13, no. 19 (1981): 117-159. https://doi.org/10.1080/07329113.1981.10756260
Szczepanski, Kallie. “Land Policy and Adat Law In Indonesia’s Forests,” Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal 11, no.1 (2002): 231-255.
DISSERTATION
Buana, Mirza Satria.“State Courts, Traditional Dispute Resolution and Indigenous Peoples in South Kalimantan: A Socio-Legal Study.” Ph.D diss., TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland, 2017.
CONFERENCE PROCEEDING
Muhammadin, Fajri and Danusatya, Hanindito, 2017. “De-Secularizing Legal Education in Indonesia: Examining the ‘Introduction to Jurisprudence’ Textbooks on Norm Classification” in E-Proceedings International Seminar on Islamic Civiliza¬tion and Thoughts, November 20, 2017, 51-59, Pulau Pinang:School of Humanities Universiti Sains Malaysia
LEGAL DOCUMENTS
The 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia.
Law Number 5 Year 1960 on the Basic Regulation on the Essentials of Agrarian Affairs.
Law Number 41 Year 1999 on Forestry.
Law Number 39 Year 1999 on Human Rights
Law Number 18 Year 2004 on Plantation.
Law Number 39 Year 2014 on Plantation.
Regulation of the Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Forestry Number P.32/Menlhk-Setjen/2015 on Forests Subject to Rights.
Regulation of Minister of Agrarian and Spatial Affairs / Head of the National Land Agency of the Republic of Indonesia Number 10 Year 2016 concerning the Procedures for the Establishment of Communal Rights on Jural Communities’ Land and Communities that are in Specified Area
Circular of the Ministry of Forestry Number SE.1/Menhut-II/2013.
OTHER DOCUMENTS
Sekretariat Negara RI. (1992) Risalah Sidang Badan Penyelidik Usaha-Usaha Persiapan Kemerdekaan dan Panitia Persiapan Kemerdekaan Indonesia. Jakarta: Sekretariat Negara RI.
CASE LAW
Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia Decision No. 35/PUU-X/2012.
WEBSITE CONTENT
Ompusunggu, Moses, ‘Adat’ communities want their own special law: Why?, The Jakarta Post, May 11, 2018.
Bourchier, D. Illiberal Democracy in Indonesia:The Ideology of the Family State. London: Routledge, 2015.
Burns, Peter. The Leiden Legacy. Concepts of Law in Indonesia. Leiden: KITLV Press, 2004.
Bushar Muhammad. Asas-Asas Hukum Adat. Suatu Pengantar. Ed. IX. Jakarta: Pradnja Paramita, 1994.
Dewan Pertimbangan Agung RI. Tudjuh Bahan Pokok Indoktrinasi. Jakarta: DPA RI, 1961.
Elson, Robert Edward. The Idea of Indonesia. A History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Harsono, Budi. Hukum Agraria Indonesia. Sejarah pembentukan Undang- Undang Pokok Agraria, Isi dan Pelaksanaannya. Jilid 1 Hukum Tanah Nasional. Cet. IX. Jakarta: Djambatan, 2003.
Holleman, J.F. (Ed.) Van Vollenhoven on Indonesian Adat Law. Dordrecht: Springer Science, Business Media, 1981.
Hooker, Michael Barry. Adat Law in Modern Indonesia. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979.
Joyodiguno, M.M. Reorientasi Hukum dan Hukum Adat. Jogjakarta: PT.Penerbit Universitas, 1961.
Koesnoe, Moh. Hukum Adat sebagai Suatu Model Hukum. Bagian I (Historis). Bandung: Mandar Maju, 1992.
Simanjuntak, Marsilam. Pandangan Negara Integralistik: Sumber, Unsur dan Riwayatnya dalam Persiapan UUD 1945. Jakarta: Pustaka Utama Grafiti, 1994.
Soemadiningrat, Otje Salman. Rekonseptualisasi Hukum Adat Kontemporer. Bandung: Alumni, 2002.
Sudiyat, Iman. Asas-Asas Hukum Adat: Bekal Pengantar. Ed.III. Yogyakarta: Liberty, 2000.
Supomo. Kedudukan Hukum Adat di Kemudian Hari. Jakarta: Pustaka Rakyat, 1959.
Supomo. Bab-bab tentang Hukum Adat. Jakarta: Penerbitan Universitas, 1962.
Sukanto, Suryono and Soleman Taneko. Hukum Adat Indonesia. Cet. VI.Jakarta: RajaGrafindo Persada, 2003.
Ter Haar. B. Asas-Asas dan Susunan Hukum Adat. Transl. Subakti Pusponoto. Jakarta: Pradnja Paramita, 1985.
CHAPTER IN AN EDITED BOOK
Bourchier, David. “The Romance of Adat in the Indonesian Political Imagination and The Current Revival.” In The Revival of Tradition in Indonesian Politics: The Deployment of Adat from Colonialism to Indigenism, edited by Jamie S. Davidson and David Henley. Oxon, New York: Routledge, 2007.
Fasseur, Cess. “Colonial Dilemma: Van Vollenhoven and the Struggle Between Adat Law and Western Law in Indonesia.” In European Expansion and the Law, edited by Wolfgang J. Mommsen and Jaap A. de Moor. Oxford/New York: Berg, 1990.
Fitzpatrick, Daniel. “Beyond Dualism: Land Acquisition and law in Indonesia.” In Indonesia Law and Society, edited by Tim Lindsey, Fully Revised and expanded 2nd Edition. Singapore: The Federation Press, 2008.
Supomo. “The Future of Adat Law in the Reconstruction of Indonesia.” In Southeast Asia in the Coming World, edited by Philip Warren Thayer. Baltimore: John Hopkins Univesity Press, 1957.
Von Benda-Beckmann, Franz and Keebet Von Benda-Beckmann. “The Social Life of Living Law in Indonesia.” In Living Law. Reconsidering Eugen Ehrlich, edited by Marc Hertogh, 177-197. Oxford, Portland: Hart Publishing, 2009.
Wahyudi, Agus. “Human Rights and Corruption: Indonesian Case for Reconciling Universalism and Relativism.” in Human Rights and the Third World: Issues and Discourses, edited by Subrata Sankar Bagchi and Arnab Das, 81-98. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2013.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Agusman, Damos Damoli “The Dynamic Development on Indonesia’s Attitude toward International Law.” Indonesian Journal of International Law 13, no.1 (2015): 1-31. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17304/ijil.vol13.1.624
Buana, Mirza Satria. “Living adat Law, Indigenous Peoples and the State Law: A Complex Map of Legal Pluralism in Indonesia,” International Journal of Indonesian Studies 1, no. 3 (2016): 104-119.
Butt, Simon. “Traditional Land Rights before the Indonesian Constitutional Court”, Law, Environment and Development Journal 10, no.1 (2014): 57-73.
Engel, David M. “Adat Law in Modern Indonesia.” The American Journal of Comparative Law 28, no. 2 (1980): 352 354, https://doi.org/10.2307/839892
Fenrich, Jeanmarie and Mary McEvoy. “Promoting Rule of Law in Customary Tribunals in Ghana,” Harvard Human Rights Journal 11 (September 2014)
Fitzpatrick, Daniel. “Disputes and Pluralism in Modern Indonesian Land Law,” Yale Journal of International Law 22, no. 1 (1997): 171-212.
Gillespie, John. “Public Discourse and Constitutional Change: A Comparison of Vietnam and Indonesia.” Asian Journal of Comparative Law 11, no. 2 (2016): 209-218. https://doi.org/10.1017/asjcl.2016.17
Gold, Martin E. and Russell B. Zuckerman. “Indonesian Land Rights and Development,” Columbia Journal of Asian Law 28, no.1 (2014)
Miranda, Lillian Aponte. “Indigenous Peoples as International Lawmakers,” University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law 32, no. 1 (2010): 203.
Mosses, Morsen. “Custom as a Source of Law in Vanuatu: A Critical Analysis,” Journal of South Pacific Law, Special Edition (2017): 37-54.
Napoh, Datu Bua. “Recognition of the Customary Land Law in the Constitution of Indonesia and Malaysia,” Brawijaya Law Journal 2, no.2 (2015): 1-19.
Ndun, Hanna Christine, Sarah Suttor, and I Gusti Agung Ayu Dike Widhiyaastuti. “Does Customary Law Discriminate Balinese Women’s Inheritance Rights?.” Udayana Journal of Law and Culture 2, no. 1 (2018): 97-114. https://doi.org/10.24843/UJLC.2018.v02.i01.p05
Nurjaya, I Nyoman. “Is The Constitutional and Legal Recognition of Traditional Community Laws within the Multicultural Country of Indonesia: A Genuine or Pseudo Recognition?,” Constitutional Review 1, no.2 (2015): 49-68.
Perry, Robin. “Balancing Rights or Building Rights? Reconciling the Right to Use Customary Systems of Law with Competing Human Rights in Pursuit of Indigenous Sovereignty,” Harvard Human Rights Journal 24, no.1 (2011): 71-114.
Reid, Anthony. “Political “Tradition” in Indonesia: the One and the Many.” Asian Studies Review 22, no. 1 (1998): 23-38.
Sukarti, Dewi. “Customary Law of Inheritance and Migration: Adoption of The Old Regime or Adaptation to The New One?” Ahkam 17, no. 2, (2017): 301-320. https://doi.org/10.15408/ajis.v17i2.6236
Sukiati. “Hazairin’s Legal Thought And His Contribution Towards The Indonesian Legal System,” Journal of Indonesian Islam 6, no.1 (2012): 93-124.
Thorburn, Craig C. “A Long Row to Hoe: Decentralization, Reformasi, and Land Management Policy in Indonesia,” Asia Pacific Viewpoints 45, no. 1 (2004): 33-49.
Von Benda-Beckmann, Franz. and Keebet Von Benda-Beckmann. “Myths and Stereotypes about Adat Law. A reassessment of Van Vollenhoven in the Light of Current Struggles over Adat Law in Indonesia.” Bijdragen tot de Taal, Land en Volkenkunde 167, no. 2-3 (2011): 167-195. https://doi.org/10.1163/22134379-90003588
Von Benda-Beckmann, Keebet. “Forum Shopping and Shopping Forums: Dispute Processing in a Minangkabau Village in West Sumatra.” Journal of Legal Pluralism 13, no. 19 (1981): 117-159. https://doi.org/10.1080/07329113.1981.10756260
Szczepanski, Kallie. “Land Policy and Adat Law In Indonesia’s Forests,” Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal 11, no.1 (2002): 231-255.
DISSERTATION
Buana, Mirza Satria.“State Courts, Traditional Dispute Resolution and Indigenous Peoples in South Kalimantan: A Socio-Legal Study.” Ph.D diss., TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland, 2017.
CONFERENCE PROCEEDING
Muhammadin, Fajri and Danusatya, Hanindito, 2017. “De-Secularizing Legal Education in Indonesia: Examining the ‘Introduction to Jurisprudence’ Textbooks on Norm Classification” in E-Proceedings International Seminar on Islamic Civiliza¬tion and Thoughts, November 20, 2017, 51-59, Pulau Pinang:School of Humanities Universiti Sains Malaysia
LEGAL DOCUMENTS
The 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia.
Law Number 5 Year 1960 on the Basic Regulation on the Essentials of Agrarian Affairs.
Law Number 41 Year 1999 on Forestry.
Law Number 39 Year 1999 on Human Rights
Law Number 18 Year 2004 on Plantation.
Law Number 39 Year 2014 on Plantation.
Regulation of the Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Forestry Number P.32/Menlhk-Setjen/2015 on Forests Subject to Rights.
Regulation of Minister of Agrarian and Spatial Affairs / Head of the National Land Agency of the Republic of Indonesia Number 10 Year 2016 concerning the Procedures for the Establishment of Communal Rights on Jural Communities’ Land and Communities that are in Specified Area
Circular of the Ministry of Forestry Number SE.1/Menhut-II/2013.
OTHER DOCUMENTS
Sekretariat Negara RI. (1992) Risalah Sidang Badan Penyelidik Usaha-Usaha Persiapan Kemerdekaan dan Panitia Persiapan Kemerdekaan Indonesia. Jakarta: Sekretariat Negara RI.
CASE LAW
Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia Decision No. 35/PUU-X/2012.
WEBSITE CONTENT
Ompusunggu, Moses, ‘Adat’ communities want their own special law: Why?, The Jakarta Post, May 11, 2018.
Published
2018-07-31
How to Cite
BUDI PRIAMBODO, Bono.
Positioning Adat Law in the Indonesia’s Legal System: Historical Discourse and Current Development on Customary Law.
Udayana Journal of Law and Culture, [S.l.], v. 2, n. 2, p. 140 -164, july 2018.
ISSN 2549-0680.
Available at: <https://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/ujlc/article/view/39907>. Date accessed: 20 apr. 2024.
doi: https://doi.org/10.24843/UJLC.2018.v02.i02.p02.
Section
Articles
