After the fall of President Soeharto, there have been heightened attempts by certain groups of Muslims to have sharia (Islamic law) implemented by the state. Even though this burning issue is not new, it has further divided Indonesian Muslims. The introduction of Islamic law would also affect the future of multi-cultural and multi-religious Indonesia. So far, however, the introduction of sharia nationwide has been opposed by the majority of Indonesian Muslims. This book gives an overview of sharia from post-Independence in 1945 to the most recent developments in Indonesia at the start of the new millennium.

Since the first edition, Indonesia has undergone massive political and legal change as part of its post-Soeharto reform process and its dramatic transition to democracy. This work contains 25 new chapters and the 4 surviving chapters have all been revised, where necessary. Indonesia: Law and Society now covers a broad range of legal fields and includes both historical and very up-to-date analyses and views on Indonesian legal issues. It includes work by leading scholars from a wide range of countries. There is still no comparable, English language text in existence.

"The Dutch colonial power in Indonesia in the nineteenth century needed to clarify its understanding of the legal values and conventions of the peoples whom it claimed to rule. Dutch colonial lawyers tended to rationalize this legal culture, lumping together all kinds of indigenous legal customs from different areas as manifestations of adatrecht, or, customary law. The status of this legal system vis-a-vis Dutch colonial law was a source of continual depute and disagreement. The champions of adatrecht known as the Leiden School, with C. van Vollenhoven in the forefront, scored a victory around 1927 when adatrecht gained official recognition, though on the other hand it became the subject of mounting criticism. After World War II, the independent state of Indonesia paid lip service to adatrecht principles, but in practice treated it as irrelevant, or even an embarrassment."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The Indonesian term adat means ‘custom’ or ‘tradition’, and carries connotations of sedate order and harmony. Yet in recent years it has suddenly become associated with activism, protest and violence. This book investigates the revival of adat in Indonesian politics, identifying its origins, the historical factors that have conditioned it and the reasons behind its recent blossoming. It considers whether the adat revival is a constructive contribution to Indonesia’s new political pluralism or a divisive, dangerous and reactionary force, and examines the implications for the development of democracy, human rights, civility and political stability. The Revival of Tradition in Indonesian Politics provides detailed coverage of the growing significance of adat in Indonesian politics. It is an important resource for anyone seeking to understand the contemporary Indonesian political landscape.

For nearly forty years, following the collapse of Indonesia's parliamentary system, Indonesia's once independent legal institutions were transformed into dedicated instruments of a powerful elite and allowed to sink into a deep mire of corruption and malfeasance. Legal process was devastated far beyond the capacity of any simple effort at reconstruction by post-Suharto governments. Indonesia's problems in this respect surpass those of other countries in the region compelled by economic crisis to re-examine institutional structures. The works reprinted in this collection constitute a case study over time of legal decay and the rise of reform interests in one of the most complex countries in the world. Written during a period of more than thirty years, beginning in the early 1960s, the essays trace several themes in the legal history of modern Indonesia. They make clear, however, that legal history is seldom that alone, but rather, like law itself, is largely derivative, fundamentally imbedded in the interest, ideas, purposes, and contentions of local political, social, and economic power.

This book looks at how Muslims in Indonesia struggle to reconcile radically different sets of social norms and laws.