Introduction
This diversity makes Indonesia one of the most Fascinatingjurisdictions for anyone interested in comparative law and legal pluralism. It is an effective antidote to many preconceived ideas that are sometimes accepted uncritically about how state law should interact with Islamic law, other religious laws and indigenous law.
Indonesia’s diversity in law proves that a country can accept â€?modernity’[777] even though it applies or respects religious laws. In this way, moderÂnity does not require absolute or fundamentalist secularism or laιcite but may come with the respect of, and recognition by a neutral state for, legal diversity, including the diverse religious laws of its citizens. Indonesia also proves that there is no contradiction between adat and Islamic law on the one hand and democracy on the other.This chapter will introduce the reader unfamiliar with Indonesia and with the Indonesian language to the complexity and wonderful diversity of Indonesian law.[778]
For these readers, here are a few non-legal facts about the country. Indonesia is the largest country in Southeast Asia, the largest Muslim-majority country[779] and the third largest democracy in the world.[780] It is the world’s largest archipelagic state (some 17500 islands, 6000 inhabited). It has a population of about 240 million speaking the national language (Indonesian) and hundreds of other local languages. It is divided into 33 provinces and special regions. Some provinces are only part of a large island, some are a whole island and some are composed of hundreds of islands. Indonesia declared its independence from the Dutch at the end of the Japanese occupation on 17 August 1945, an independence that was recognised by the Netherlands on 27 December 1949. Although of late it has experienced terrorist attacks by radical Muslim groups, Indonesia remains committed to fighting terrorism and has probably prosecuted more terrorists in fair trials in open courts than any other country has recently.
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