Lentera Hukum, 10:1 (2023), pp. i-viii
ISSN 2355-4673 (Print) 2621-3710 (Online)
Available online 29 May 2023
https://doi.org/10.19184/ejlh.v10i1.38435
* Corresponding author, email: muhd.bahrul@unej.ac.id
Published by the University of Jember. © The Author(s), 2023. This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of
the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0).
Editorial
Navigating Human Rights in Indonesia and Beyond
Muhammad Bahrul Ulum*
Faculty of Law, University of Jember, Indonesia
Ari Wirya Dinata
Faculty of Law, Bengkulu University, Indonesia
I. OVERVIEW
In Indonesia, promoting human rights is a long battle run. Human rights
were just formally recognised when Suharto's authoritarian regime ended in
1998, but these rights have experienced a rise and fall throughout the
Reformasi. Indonesia successfully amended the 1945 Constitution by
incorporating more human rights provisions and enacted Human Rights
Law 39/1999. However, this country still faces the challenges of ensuring
that human rights are promoted with the state’s obligation to respect, protect
and fulfil amidst the debates on institutional reforms, universalism and
relativism,
1
as well as the limited powers of the national human rights
institution.
2
Along with efforts to ensure that democracy and human rights
can coexist, democratisation in Indonesia is also inextricably linked to
advancing human rights. After two decades of Indonesia's reform, human
rights and democracy have become vital cornerstones, but they have
experienced serious challenges in their promotion.
1
Heru Susetyo, “Human Rights Regime between Universality and Cultural Relativism:
The Asian and Indonesian Experience Culture & International Law II” (2018) 16:2
Indonesian J Int’l L 191–209 at 195.
2
Melissa Crouch, “Asian Legal Transplants and Rule of Law Reform: National Human
Rights Commission in Myanmar and Indonesia” (2013) 5:2 Hague Journal on the
Rule of Law 146–177 at 165.