On Thursday, July 15, 2021, Swinburne Law School visited the Faculty of Law, Universitas Gadjah Mada (FH UGM) as part of the Indonesia Law, Governance and Culture Study Tour 2021. The visit was conducted virtually via Zoom Meeting and was opened by Dr. Jeremy Kingsley, representing Swinburne Law School, and Andika Putra, S.H., M.H., LL.M., representing FH UGM.
The visit consisted of three sessions. Session 1 was held from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. (WIB), Session 2 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. (WIB), and Session 3 from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. (WIB). In the first session, Sri Wiyanti Eddyono, S.H., LL.M. (HR), Ph.D., lecturer at the Department of Criminal Law, FH UGM, delivered a presentation entitled “Introduction to Indonesian Law: The New Development of Legal System and Its Challenges”. Her presentation focused on three main topics: The Indonesian Contexts, The development of Indonesian Legal System, and the challenges. She explained that Indonesia’s rich diversity of cultures, ethnicities, and traditions contributes significantly to the complexity of its legal system.
The second session featured I Gusti Agung Made Wardana, S.H., LL.M., Ph.D., lecturer at the Department of Environmental Law, FH UGM, who presented “Indonesian Environmental Law: A Critical Introduction." His presentation addressed two key themes: Indonesia and the Anthropocene and the Current Development of Environmental Law in Indonesia. He highlighted several implications of recent changes in environmental regulation following the enactment of the Job Creation Law (Omnibus Law), including the weakening of the Environmental Impact Assessment (AMDAL) system, the removal of the minimum 30 percent forest area allocation requirement, and increasing concerns regarding the criminalization of dissent in environmental advocacy, which in practice may conflict with Anti-SLAPP protections.
The third session was delivered by Dr. Mahaarum Kusuma Pertiwi, S.H., M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D., lecturer at the Department of Constitutional Law, FH UGM. Her presentation, entitled “The New Indonesian Constitution and Human Rights Protection,” covered four main topics: The Indonesia Constitution and its changes (1945, 1949, 1950, 1959, 2002), Pancasila and Piagam Jakarta (Jakarta Charter) – The Preamble of the Constitution, Human rights before the constitutional amendments, and human rights after the amendments. Through this presentation, participants gained insights into the development of constitutional law and human rights protection in Indonesia.
The three-session program was carried out successfully and was met with great enthusiasm from the students of Swinburne Law School. Participants demonstrated a strong interest in learning more about Indonesia’s legal system and contemporary legal developments. The visit concluded with a closing ceremony held on Friday, July 16, 2021, via Zoom Meeting. The ceremony was attended by representatives of FH UGM, Swinburne Law School, and various legal institutions from across Indonesia.
The visit formed part of an ongoing collaboration between FH UGM and Swinburne Law School that has been conducted regularly since 2019. Looking ahead, both institutions expressed their hope that conditions in Indonesia and Australia would continue to improve following the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing academic cooperation to be further strengthened and future activities to be conducted in person.
