This article explores the development of international relations (IR) in Indonesia with special focus on the changing trends in its theoretical perspectives. It argues that the academic works examined reflect the ways in which Indonesia's IR scholars perceive and theorize the nature of the dynamics of external political environments and their connections to the state's foreign relations. The argument is elaborated in two related parts. The first section discusses the theoretical perspectives that developed during the Cold War period, which focuses on the propensity toward historical realism and regionalism. The second part of the discussion examines recent developments in which Cold War perspectives have been reconsidered, and in many respects modified into three new categories of theoretical thinking, namely reform, resistance, and eclecticism. The changing theoretical trends reveal that Indonesia's IR scholarship is open and innovative. The conclusion comments on the development of the Indonesia's IR.
Problems arising from the relationship between Islam (dîn) and politics (siyâsah) became the polemics among Muslim political thinkers that have not been completely solved up until now. Hence, it is difficult to identify which countriy such as Turkey, Egypt, Sudan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Algeria, and Indonesia, that deserves to be a representation of an Islamic state. The consequence of different understandings about the relationship between Islam and politics – in the case in Indonesia- is the emergence of Indonesian Islamic State (NII). This movement attracted a number of responses from Indonesian Muslim intellectuals. Using a sociohistorical-politics approach in discussing these responses as they do not agree about the establishment of the NII, will lead to an understanding of coercion and oppression of understanding group that is different from other groups. ; Problems arising from the relationship between Islam (dîn) and politics (siyâsah) became the polemics among Muslim political thinkers that have not been completely solved up until now. Hence, it is difficult to identify which countriy such as Turkey, Egypt, Sudan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Algeria, and Indonesia, that deserves to be a representation of an Islamic state. The consequence of different understandings about the relationship between Islam and politics – in the case in Indonesia- is the emergence of Indonesian Islamic State (NII). This movement attracted a number of responses from Indonesian Muslim intellectuals. Using a sociohistorical-politics approach in discussing these responses as they do not agree about the establishment of the NII, will lead to an understanding of coercion and oppression of understanding group that is different from other groups.
This study considers the political aspects of the Joko Widodo government's megaproject to build an integrated marine logistic system known as the tol laut. Expanding the existing literature which gives details about the contextual obstacles faced by and the prospects for the Indonesian government to pursue its infrastructure ambitions, the study argues that notwithstanding the relevance of the tol laut for advancing the Indonesian economy, it is inevitably entangled with dynamic internal and external environments which can unfavourably distort the construction processes. This is the way of understanding the political economy of Indonesia's development issues which allows for the juxtaposition of domestic political and international relations factors as its framework of analysis. The discussion is divided into four sections. Section one explains the conceptual and methodological foundation of the study. Section two outlines the importance of the tol laut to Indonesian national economic development. Section three looks at how the current domestic political settings pose structural hurdles to Widodo's tol laut, and section four observes the effect of international relations of powerful regional actors and Jakarta's diplomatic capacity to the on-going tol laut. The concluding section summarizes the findings of the study.
Plant variety protection is a relatively new concept for many Indonesians. It was developed because of the patent regime's failure to provide appropriate protection for new plant varieties. This new sui generis legislation for the protection of plant varieties was enacted in response to Article 27.3(b) of the TRIPS Agreement, which requires WTO Members to provide an effective sui generis law for the protection of new plant varieties. This paper analyses the current state of plant variety protection in Indonesia. It covers the threshold of protection, the subject, scope, right and obligation of breeders, exceptions to infringement, farmers' rights and local varieties. It also analyses the current policy to revise the Plant Variety Protection Act and the underlying reasons for this, including Indonesia's national interest and its international and bilateral commitments. The main focus of the paper explores why such policy is not broadly compatible with the Indonesian agricultural tradition of seed sharing. Accordingly, this paper explores the tradition of seed sharing in Indonesian culture known as adat. In addition, it explores the likely implication of such protection for national agricultural innovation.
The refugee crisis is a global problem that needs serious attention. Responsibility-sharing is a core tenet of international responses to refugee crises. However, global governance, within the framework of the global refugee regime, is often practically ineffective to respond such problems. In this aspect, conceptual evaluation and reform are needed. In this particular momentum, civil society groups are able to be involved, in both performance evaluation and framework formulation related to global governance on refugees. One of the formal form of civil society is a non-governmental organization (NGO). Amnesty International is one of the NGOs involved in the process of evaluating and reforming global governance on refugees. This article aims to find out the form of Amnesty International's involvement in global governance on refugees. This study used descriptive-qualitative method. The findings in this article are that Amnesty International has a direct involvement in order to evaluate and to reform the global governance framework related to refugees through the 2016 UN High Summit for Refugee and Migrant. This involvement was demonstrated through performance evaluations and proposals for more genuine responsibility-sharing, both at the conceptual and technical level. Amnesty International in this involvement pursued an agenda that has two dimensions, namely: the dimension of institutional evolution and the agenda dimension.
The riot in Rengasdengklok, West Java, Indonesia, January 30, 1997: destruction of Chinese-Indonesian property, Christian and Buddhist places of worship; discrimination against minorities; interreligious relations between Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism
In Islamic law, khamr is a common type of alcoholic beverage that is forbidden for consumption due to its elements that can intoxicate and lead to loss of self-control. The government of Indonesia also forbids people from consuming the intoxicating beverage in certain levels. Nevertheless, a community group in Batu Payuang Halaban, Lima Puluh Kota Regency, West Sumatra Province, Indonesia, wherein their daily lives can be found a type of traditional beverage as same as khamr that is a fermented juice of sugar palm bunches. The people call it "tuak". This research aims to investigate how the people of Nagari Batu Payuang produce aia niro and tuak, their motives for buying, selling, and consuming the drink, and judging it from the perspective of Islamic law (hadd al-syurb). This type of research is field research with a qualitative approach. Data sources consisted of primary and secondary. The data collection was conducted by observing the process of producing aia niro, tuak, and the transaction, and in-depth interviews with owners of sugar palm plantation, tuak producers, buyers, sellers, consumers, and local ulama (Islamic scholars). The data were analyzed in descriptive by reduction, display, and verification. To examine this research, the theory used was the concept of hadd al-syurb in Islamic law and the regulation on alcoholic beverages in Indonesia. The results show that aia niro is produced by extracting the bunches of male sugar palm and it is the raw material to produce tuak by leaving the aia niro in jerry cans and adding agarwood bark for 3 days. The sellers have various reasons to sell tuak and its raw materials. Besides the price is higher than brown sugar, it is also motivated by personal and other economic reasons as well as easier processing. People who drink tuak realize that it is intoxicating in a certain amount but they drink it to warm their bodies and relieve their fatigues. In the concept of hadd al-syurb, consuming tuak as an intoxicating substance is haram (forbidden) and is condemned to those who drink it. However, they who trade it are not punished by hudud since the Sunna proposition only refers to the transaction as an act of curse. ; Dalam konteks hukum Islam, khamr adalah salah satu jenis minuman yang dilarang untuk dikonsumsi karena mengandung unsur yang dapat memabukkan dan menghilangkan fungsi akal. Pemerintah Indonesia juga melarang masyarakat mengkonsumsi minuman memabukkan dalam kadar tertentu. Meskipun demikian, ada kelompok masyarakat di Batu Payuang Halaban, Kabupaten Lima Puluh Kota, Provinsi Sumatera Barat, Indonesia, yang dalam keseharian mereka ditemukan jenis minuman tradisional yang berfungsi sama dengan khamr. Mereka menyebutnya dengan nama tuak yang berasal dari fermentasi air perasan tandan aren. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui cara masyarakat Nagari Batu Payuang memproduksi aia niro dan tuak serta mengetahui alasan mereka melakukan jual beli dan mengkonsumsinya, kemudian menilainya dari sudut pandang hukum Islam (hadd al-syurb). Jenis penelitian adalah penelitian lapangan dengan pendekatan kualitatif. Sumber data terdiri dari sumber data primer dan sekunder. Pengumpulan data dilakukan dengan cara observasi proses pembuatan aia niro, tuak dan jual belinya, wawancara mendalam dengan pemilik kebun aren, produsen tuak, pembeli, penjual, konsumen dan ulama lokal. Data dianalisis secara deskriptif dengan cara reduksi, display dan verifikasi. Teori yang digunakan untuk menelaah kajian ini adalah konsep hadd al-syurb dalam hukum Islam dan pengaturan minuman keras di Indonesia. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa cara produksi aia niro adalah dengan menyadap tandan bunga jantan dan airnya digunakan untuk membuat tuak dengan cara mendiamkan aia niro itu dalam jeriken dan menambahkan kulit kayu gaharu selama 3 hari. Para penjual memiliki alasan yang beragam ketika menjual tuak maupun bahan bakunya. Selain harganya lebih tinggi dari gula merah juga karena alasan pribadi dan ekonomis lainnya serta proses pengolahannya yang lebih mudah. Masyarakat yang suka meminum tuak mengetahui bahwa tuak itu memabukkan dalam jumlah tertentu tetapi mereka meminumnya hanya untuk memanaskan tubuh dan menghilangkan rasa penat. Dalam konsep hadd al-syurb, mengkonsumsi tuak sebagai zat yang memabukkan adalah haram dan dihukum hudud orang yang meminumnya. Tetapi orang yang memperjualbelikannya tidak dihukum hudud karena dalil Sunah hanya menyebut jual belinya sebagai perbuatan yang dilaknat.
