International Journal of Social Science And Human Research ISSN(print): 2644-0679, ISSN(online): 2644-0695 Volume 06 Issue 05 May 2023 DOI: 10.47191/ijsshr/v6-i5-15, Impact factor- 6.686 Page No: 2630-2636 IJSSHR, Volume 06 Issue 05 May 2023 www.ijsshr.in Page 2630 Legal Politics in the Implementation of Regional Autonomy Marcos Confery Kaban 1 , Maydika Ramadani 2 , Handoyo Prasetyo 3 1,2,3 Master of Law, Faculty of Law, UPN Veteran Jakarta ABSTRACT: The 1945 Constitution is the highest law in Indonesia. From 1999 to 2002, the MPR underwent four stages of change which were carried out democratically, constitutionally and institutionally. Arrangements that have undergone changes include Article 18 concerning arrangements for the administration of regional government. The implementation of the provisions of Article 18 of the 1945 Republic of Indonesia Constitution is currently carried out by Law Number 23 of 2014 concerning Regional Government as the basis for political reference for regional autonomy law in Indonesia. The problems in this study are how is the implementation of regional autonomy in Indonesia, what is the impact of regional autonomy on the development of Indonesia's regions, and how are changes in the culture of society in the implementation of regional autonomy in Indonesia. The conclusion that can be drawn from these results is that the implementation of regional autonomy in Indonesia must have a sense of confidence from the central government, local government and the community, with decentralization which is expected to optimize community pre- cons, the impact of regional autonomy opens up opportunities to implement wide-open economic democracy, and so that it can advance the people's economy, as a result of the reform euphoria that can lead to counter-productivity. This must become a productive and constructive culture and behavior to realize healthy and balanced regional autonomy. KEYWORDS: Legal Politics, Autonomous Region, Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia. A. INTRODUCTION 1. Background Etymologically, the term legal politics is an Indonesian translation of the Dutch legal term rechtspolitiek, which is a formation of the two words rech and politiek (Imam Syaukani and A. Ahsin Thohari, 1999: 19). In Indonesian, the word recht means law. The word law itself comes from the Arabic hukm (plural word ahkam), which means decision, decree, order, power, punishment, and others. In relation to this term, there is no unified opinion among legal theorists about what the limits and true meaning of law are. Differences of opinion occur because of its abstract nature and broad scope as well as differences in the perspectives of experts in viewing and understanding what is called the law. However, as a guideline, we can simply say that law is a set of rules of behavior that apply in society. The vigorous and widespread Reformation Movement was an accumulation of chaotic government. Three years before entering the 21st century, a major event occurred in Indonesia, starting the century that the entire world community has been waiting for. The Reform movement that occurred in mid-1997 was so powerful that it was able to overthrow the New Order government, which was considered unpopular to run the Indonesian government. In line with the emergence of the Reform movement, there are also heroic issues related to upholding democracy, efforts to avoid disintegration, efforts to form good and clean government, leader credibility, eradicating KKN (corruption, collusion and nepotism), community empowerment, sustainable development, establishment of autonomy area, and many other issues. Not in accordance with people's expectations, coupled with a severe economic crisis. The root of the chaos mentioned above is the New Order government which is considered to have implemented a centralized, authoritarian and corrupt government. With the fall of the New Order government, the demands of the people, both at the central and regional elite levels, became more intense for regional autonomy to be implemented more broadly. Regional autonomy as a decentralized system of government in Indonesia is nothing new. The implementation of regional autonomy has actually been regulated in the 1945 Constitution. However, in its development so far the implementation of autonomy area has not shown optimal results. After the Reformation movement took place and the Suharto government fell, the discourse to optimize the implementation of regional autonomy echoed again, was even louder and urgently needed to be implemented. The public's demand to optimize the implementation of regional autonomy was welcomed by President Habibie so that Law Number 22 of 1999 concerning Regional Government and Law Number 25 Year 1999 concerning Financial Balance between the Central and Regional Governments were enacted. With the passing of these two laws, a paradigm shift occurred, namely from centralized government to decentralized government. Based on the regional autonomy law, the enactment of the law is effective after two years