Support to training in legislative drafting in Indonesia

Project description

Before the constitutional amendments of 1999-2002 it was mainly the President who initiated new legislation, assisted by the Cabinet of Ministers and thus supported by an entire government apparatus, including the Ministry of Justice and the National Legal Development Agency (BPHN). From 2002 onwards the role of the Indonesian Parliament and in particular its House of Representatives (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat or DPR) as one of the two law-making bodies became more important and is now increasingly fulfilling its constitutional role as the legislature.
The historically strong ties between the Netherlands and Indonesia – a large number of Indonesian laws and statutes are still based on the old Dutch colonial law – were sufficient reason to invite CILC to assist in the training of legislative drafters in both the Parliament and the Ministry of Justice. Within the Department of Law and Human Rights, the Directorate-General for Legislation is responsible for the training of all legislative drafters in Indonesia regardless of their place of employment. Two training sessions on legislative drafting techniques were conducted in Jakarta in May and October 2009 for around 50 legislative drafters from the Department for Law and Human Rights, the House of Representatives of Indonesia’s Parliament, the National Law Development Agency (BPHN), Bank Indonesia and Banten Province. The courses consisted of introductions to various aspects related to legislation and legislative drafting such as the order of legislation, the language used in legislation, impact assessment techniques, and legislative policy, as well as practical assignments in which the participants developed, in groups, legislative solutions for current problems.