Legal syncretism or the theory of unity in diversity as an alternative to legal pluralism in Indonesia

Abstract

Purpose Legal syncretism seeks to provide a rather different account of how laws interact with one another as the people deal with them. The purpose of this study is to provide a rather different account of how laws interact with one another as the people deal with them in the society. Design/methodology/approach This paper discusses the current concept of legal pluralism as to whether it really holds as the right theory for building a harmonious and trustworthy legal system in a multi-cultural country such as Indonesia. This study involves socio-legal research drawing on empirical data. It discusses the practice of legal pluralism in Indonesia by analyzing the characteristics of her legal system, especially the roles of customs and religion in it. Findings The research, conducted in five Indonesian cities, reveals that the current proposal of legal pluralism is not really helping to solve the difficulties faced by the Indonesian legal system. Therefore, this paper proposes legal syncretism or the theory of unity in diversity (bhineka tunggal ika) as an alternative to help cope with some of the difficulties faced by many legal systems in developing countries, especially Indonesia. Originality/value Although legal pluralism sounds promising, wrong and misleading interpretations have been provided by many of its proponents. Legal pluralism has been touted by many socio-legal scholars as a key concept in the analysis of law. Yet, after almost 20 years of such claims, there has been little progress in the development of the concept. Despite these confident pronouncements and the apparent unanimity that underlie them, however, the concept gives rise to complex unresolved problems. Legal syncretism seeks to provide a rather different account of how laws interact with one another as the people deal with them.

Disharmonization of Supreme Court Regulations in Material Judicial Rights

“…However, the norms in the Perma do not regulate private legal entities at all. 40 On another consideration, the Supreme Court also uses conjunctions or phrases, the words "and" / "further" or "juncto", but these two phrases are not appropriate to use because the norm of Article 1 paragraph (4) of the Supreme Court Regulation Number 1 of 2011 is not a continuation of provisions governing private legal entities or the compilation of requirements to determine the legal standing of a private legal entity. The difference again occurs in the Supreme Court's Decision which does not consider the provisions of Article 1 paragraph (4) of Perma Number 1 of 2011 for applicants in the form of private legal entities.…”

Prospects for the New Capital City Policy in Law and Economic Perspectives

“…Indonesia in the eyes of the world also ranks as the 14th largest country, with an area of 1,904,569 km2 with a population of 277.7 million as of January 2022. (Isra & Tegnan, 2021) Indonesia is bordered by a number of neighboring countries in Southeast Asia, the Australian continent, and Oceania.…”

“…The migration of people from different ethnicities, religions, cultures and social levels to Jakarta has made Jakarta the city with the highest population density in Indonesia. (Isra & Tegnan, 2021) In fact, it is the second most populous city in the world with a population of 35,363,000 after Tokyo as the first with a population of 39,105,000. However, when compared with the area; Jakarta (661.5 km²) while Tokyo (2,194 km²) of course it can be concluded that with a very large population and occupying an area that is 1/3 of the area of Tokyo, it can be concluded that the Jakarta area is really unhealthy and has a systemic impact from various factors.…”

SEGREGATION OF RELIGIOUS IDENTITY: An Ethnography of Religion Pluralism and Cultural Trauma in the Tolaki Communities

“…This issue has been the object of various studies in the last two decades in Indonesia. Isra and Tegnan (2021) report the results of their research that the discourse of legal pluralism has not been able to help much in overcoming the difficulties faced by the pluralistic society in Indonesia, especially related to legal issues. The implication is that he offers syncretism as a more logical alternative to overcome this problem.…”