This year, the Faculty of Law at Universitas Gadjah Mada once again hosted the Gadjah Mada Legal Research and Innovation (GALERI) competition. In addition to the Scientific Writing Competition, GALERI 2016 also featured a Legislative Drafting Competition, providing undergraduate law students from universities across Indonesia, other than UGM, with an opportunity to participate. All registered teams first underwent a document screening process based on an Academic Paper (Naskah Akademik) and a Draft Bill (Rancangan Undang-Undang/RUU) addressing the theme “Draft Bill on International Agreements.”
The three teams with the best submissions presented their respective legislative drafts before the panel of judges on Friday (29/4). The judging panel consisted of Agustina Merdekawati, S.H., LL.M., a lecturer in International Law at the Faculty of Law UGM; Pocut Eliza, S.Sos., S.H., M.H., Head of the Center for Research and Development of the National Legal System at the National Law Development Agency; and Mandala Sukarto Purba, S.H., LL.M., Head of the Data and Working Paper Center at the Secretariat of the Directorate General of Legal Affairs and International Agreements of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The presentations were also attended by the other participating teams, creating an engaging and energetic question-and-answer session.
In the competition, the team from Universitas Indonesia (UI) emerged as the winner, outperforming teams from Universitas Hasanuddin and Universitas Negeri Semarang. The result was announced on Saturday (30/4) in Room III.1.1 of the Faculty of Law UGM during the closing event of GALERI 2016, which was held as part of a National Seminar entitled “Prospects for the Development of Legal Scholarship in the ASEAN Community.” Aristyo Rizka Darmawan expressed his delight at his team’s victory. The five-member UI team addressed eight key issues in the Draft Bill, including the definition of an international agreement, the various forms of international agreements, and provisions concerning public participation. “Competitions like this are really valuable. They encourage law students to think about real-world problems. When drafting legislation, we need to identify the problems first and then consider what the appropriate regulatory framework should look like,” he said when sharing his impressions of participating in GALERI 2016. (Lita)
