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MK: The Blasphemy Law is Here to Stay

Monday, April 19, 2010

It's been decided a few hours ago. The Constitutional Court ruled with one concurring opinion (Harjono) and one dissenting opinion (Maria) that the blasphemy law is here to stay. I do not think that this ruling with outlaw the possibility to submit another judicial review in the future. In the mean time, it might be worth to have a look at the Court's Decision (its not yet online -- will provide a link when it is) and Justice Maria's Dissenting Opinion.

See my recent working paper on the constitutionality of the Indonesian Blasphemy Law at the SSRN.

See related news at Detik (in Bahasa).

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Student Paper Contest - Renews Berlin 2010




http://i456.photobucket.com/albums/qq289/teukureiza/CallForPapers_2.jpg


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Link to World's Freedom of Information Laws

Friday, April 16, 2010

We've been talking about FoI Law for quite some time in this blog, but I have yet to provide you with a link to the Indonesian FoI. Click here to see Law 14 Year 2008 on the Openness of Public Information (yep, that's the long name).

Right2info.org provide a compilation of links to world's FoIs. Have a look at it here.

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Thursday, April 15, 2010

Close-up of tap waterImage via Wikipedia
From Manilla Bulettin:
The Indonesian water system is also marked by high system loss, decades of under-investment in the water infrastructure, and a poor regulatory system. Rivera explained that "they are not anchored on cost reflective tariff so... it's very difficult to invite the private sector.
However, he said there is a lot of potential in Indonesia since it has a larger population of 200 million and it is growing faster than the Philippines. Indonesia has an emerging metropolis and its metropolitan areas are much bigger than those in the Philippines.
"The key to sustaining these areas would be water infrastructure," noted Rivera adding that it will take one to two years before a project can start development.
As for cost, it will require investments of $30 million to $50 million if its a bulk water supply project. If it's a distribution project, the cost can be much bigger because there is a need to replace the pipes.

 Another PPP/PSP. What do you think?
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Vague articles in information law gives rise to concern | The Jakarta Post

A member of the Press Council, Wina Armada Sukardi, said on Monday in a discussion at the Press Council office in Jakarta that some of the articles could possibly criminalize the work of the press.

He cited Article 51, which stipulates that institutions or persons using information in an “unlawful manner” would face one year in prison and/or a maximum fine of Rp 5 million (US$544).

“There is no fixed definition of ‘unlawful manner’ so the press will be prone to criminalization,” he said.
Another speaker at the discussion, Mas Ahmad Santosa, a member of the Judicial Mafia Taskforce, said that there were also some requirements in the law that could make its implementation difficult.

“The person or institutions demanding information have to state the purpose of their request for information,” he said.

He continued that the law also gave room for public institutions to reject requests if the information had not been documented.

Quick blogging. Three interesting issues are raised here: (1) use of 'unlawful' information, (2) statement of purpose on using information and (3) the exemption clauses. I have discussed exemption clause on my previous article. I will discuss the rest later.

Marquette Law School adds new course to curriculum

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Logo of Marquette UniversityImage via Wikipedia









Water law rising as a new  practice area

Marquette Law School adds new course to curriculum


June 22, 2009

Over the next decade, legal questions over the use and conservation of the state’s water supply are expected to multiply like the boats that dot the 15,000 lakes in Wisconsin each summer.
According to attorneys who handle water-related issues as part of their practices, concerns over how water is used and who has access will grow as the population increases and the climate changes.
Coupled with recent regulatory efforts such as the Great Lakes Compact of 2008, which seeks to divide and limit water use among the eight states touching the Great Lakes and the Canadian Provinces of Ontario and Quebec, and recent bids by suburban areas in Wisconsin to import water from Lake Michigan, these developments are fueling an emerging practice area — Water Law.
“This is a cutting edge area of the law,” said Matthew Parlow, a professor at Marquette University Law School. “Water usage will be one of the major legal issues of the next few decades.” 
It is interesting to see that even in the US, a water law curriculum in law school is relatively new.
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The nature of the Indonesian Blasphemy Law

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

No more: Blasphemy Laws!Image by helen.2006 via Flickr
In human rights conventions, religion tends not to be protected ipso facto. If there are limitations to the freedom of speech and expression, this limitation is aimed at preserving public order. So the human rights conventions does not protect religion, but protect the followers in practising their beliefs and can restrain those freedoms if public ordre is threatened.

However, in the worlds' blasphemy laws, this is not always the case. Some jurisdictions protects religion as it is, irrespective of any public order arguments. Along with the ongoing judicial review of the Blasphemy Law at the Constitutional Court, my working paper tries to outline this debate. I copy-paste below, a paragraph in my working paper.
Article 156a of the Indonesian Criminal Code contained a criminal provision of 5 years of imprisonment for those “who deliberately, in public, which in essence sparked hostility, insulting or abusive views towards religions with the purpose of preventing others from adhering to any religion based on God.”. This Article has been ambiguous with respect to its criminalization theory as there are doubts as to whether it is motivated by Religionschutzstheorie or public order reasons. Judging from its position in the Criminal Code, Article 156a is placed in Chapter V of the Criminal Code which regulates the crimes against public order, along with Article 156 which criminalizes those who spark hatred against others. However, if seen from the content, the Article does not contain any condition which suggest that it will be activated only if carried out in a manner which disturbs the public peace such as the German’s § 166. Thus, Article 156a could be enforced irrespective of whether the insult caused public peace to be disturbed, or whether it would injure the feeling of religious adherents or not. To give a concrete example, Article 156a could be activated although the offence is conducted before persons who are not an adherent of any religion.[1]

The ambiguity of Article 156a has been acknowledged by Prof. Seno Adji with him proposing it to be reformed so that it can fully protect religion. It was proposed that Article 156a should be reconstructed and removed from Chapter V as it is clear that its content is in protecting religion, irrespective of public order.[2] However, even without this modification, in practice Article 156a has been very extensively applied so as to cover cases involving both public order and non public order. With these facts, it can be inferred that the interpretation and application of Article 156a leaned toward Religionschutzstheorie rather than Friedenschutzstheorie or Gefühlschutzstheorie.

Download the full paper here. What do you think about this analysis?

Have a look also at my op-ed article and previous blog posts.









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