2016 Past Events
Death Penalty Cases & Drugs Law
- "Seminar: Dodging Death Row? Victim-perpetrator Reconciliation Agreements in Death Penalty Cases & Book Launch: Drugs Law and Legal Practice in Southeast Asia"
Co-hosted by the Asian Law Centre and Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society
21 November 2016
SEMINAR: Dodging death row? Victim-perpetrator reconciliation agreements in death penalty casesAs states that use the death penalty liberally in a world that increasingly favours abolition, the Islamic-majority jurisdictions that are strict exponents of Sharia Law and the People’s Republic of China share a crucial commonality: their frequent use of victim-perpetrator reconciliation agreements to remove convicted murderers from the threat of execution. In both cases, rather than a murder convict’s last chance at escaping execution being recourse to executive clemency, victim-perpetrator reconciliation agreements fulfil much the same purpose, together with providing means of compensating victims for economic loss, and enabling the state concerned to reduce execution numbers without formally limiting the death penalty’s scope in law. In this presentation Dr Pascoe compares the fourteen death penalty retentionist nations that have most strictly incorporated Sharia criminal law principles into their positive law, along with the People’s Republic of China, to analyse the functions underpinning victim-perpetrator reconciliation agreements in death penalty cases.
There have, in fact, been more prosecutions of unorthodox religious groups since the fall of Soeharto in 1998 than there were under the three decades of his authoritarian rule. Some Indonesians even feel that the pluralism they thought was constitutionally guaranteed by the national ideology, the Pancasila, is now under threat. In this seminar, prominent scholars will examine the political and legal implications of rising resurgent Islamism in Indonesia and analyse particular cases of intolerance and violence against minorities, as well as discussing the responses by a weak state that seems too often unwilling to intervene to protect vulnerable minorities against rising religious intolerance.
SPEAKER
Daniel Pascoe is an Assistant Professor at the School of Law, City University of Hong Kong. He received his DPhil in Law from the University of Oxford in 2013, and his MPhil in Criminology and Criminal Justice also from the University of Oxford in 2010. At Lincoln College, Oxford, Daniel was the Keith Murray Graduate Scholar. Daniel completed his undergraduate degrees in Law and in Asian Studies from the Australian National University.BOOK LAUNCH: Drugs Law and Legal Practice in Southeast Asia
Launched by Mr Michael O'Connell SC
Drugs Law in Legal Practice in Southeast Asia investigates criminal law and practice relevant to drugs regulation in three Southeast Asian jurisdictions: Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam. These jurisdictions represent a spectrum of approaches to drug regulation in Southeast Asia, highlighting differences in practice between civil and common law countries, and between liberal and authoritarian states. This book offers the first major English language empirical investigation and comparative analysis of regulation, jurisprudence, court procedure, and practices relating to drugs law enforcement in these three states.
Tim Lindsey is Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor and holds the Malcolm Smith Chair of Asian Law at Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne, where he is also Director of the Centre for Indonesian Law and Islamic Society.
Pip Nicholson is Professor of Law, and Director of the Asian Law Centre at Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne.
Religion, Law And Intolerance In Indonesia
- "Seminar & Book Launch: Religion, Law And Intolerance In Indonesia"
Hosted by the Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society
15 November 2016Despite its overwhelmingly Muslim majority, Indonesia has always been seen as exceptional for its diversity and pluralism. In recent years, however, there has been a rise in ‘majoritarianism’, with resurgent Islamist groups pushing hard to impose conservative values on public life – in many cases with considerable success. This has sparked growing fears for the future of basic human rights, and, in particular, the rights of women and sexual ethnic minority groups.
There have, in fact, been more prosecutions of unorthodox religious groups since the fall of Soeharto in 1998 than there were under the three decades of his authoritarian rule. Some Indonesians even feel that the pluralism they thought was constitutionally guaranteed by the national ideology, the Pancasila, is now under threat. In this seminar, prominent scholars will examine the political and legal implications of rising resurgent Islamism in Indonesia and analyse particular cases of intolerance and violence against minorities, as well as discussing the responses by a weak state that seems too often unwilling to intervene to protect vulnerable minorities against rising religious intolerance.
SPEAKERS
*Associate Professor Greg Fealy, Department of Political and Social Change, Australian National University
*Dr Stewart Fenwick, Honorary Professor, Institute for Religion, Politics and Society, Australian Catholic University
*Dr Nadirsyah Hosen, Senior Lecturer, Law Faculty, Monash UniversityCHAIRS
Professor Tim Lindsey and Dr Helen Pausacker, Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society, the University of MelbourneFollowing the seminar, the book, 'Religion, Law and Intolerance in Indonesia', edited by Tim Lindsey and Helen Pausacker (London and New York, Routledge, 2016) was launched by Emeritus Professor Virginia Hooker, Australian National University.
2016 CILIS Islamic Studies Postgraduate Conference
- "2016 CILIS Islamic Studies Postgraduate Conference"
Hosted by the Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society, the National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies (Asia Institute) and the Institute for Religion, Politics and Society (Australian Catholic University)
15 and 16 November 2016In 2016, this conference brought together 19 postgraduate students, from around Australia and overseas, who are researching topics relating to Islam. Special sessions on thesis-writing and small-group feedback on student research were included in the program.
Students from six universities and institutions participated in this 2-day conference, including: Australian National University, Flinders University, Griffith University, UIN Sumatera Utara, UIN Syarif Hidayatullah, University of Indonesia and the University of Melbourne.
Panels were chaired by leading scholars and researchers, including the following mentors:
*Associate Professor Greg Fealy, Australian National University
*Emeritus Professor Virginia Hooker, Australian National University
*Dr Nadirsyah Hosen, Monash University
*Professor Denny Indrayana, University of Gadjah Mada & The University of Melbourne
*Professor Jamhari Makruf, UIN Syarif Hidayatullah, Indonesia
*Emeritus Professor Merle Ricklefs, Australian National University
- "Current Issues in Indonesian Law and Politics"
Mohammad Mahfud MD
Hosted by the Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society
21 October 2016CILIS hosted a Roundtable Discussion discussing aspects of the Indonesian legal and political affairs with Mahfud MD.
- "Combating Corruption in Yudhoyono's Indonesia: An Insider's Perspective"
Professor Denny Indrayana
Hosted by the Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society
20 September 2016Combating corruption in Indonesia is not an easy task, even for a president. In this public lecture, Professor Denny Indrayana, who used to be President Yudhoyono’s Deputy Minister of Law and Human Rights (2011-2014) and Special Advisor for Legal Affairs, Human Rights and Anti-Corruption (2008-2011), shares his own experiences of just how complicated it was. More specifically, Professor Indrayana will analyse the Yudhoyono government’s efforts to protect the Indonesian Corruption Eradication Commission from attack by its many enemies, including corruptors. President Yudhoyono tried very hard to beat corruption and had some successes but many basic problems persist. In particular, the corrupt political landscape makes war against corruption extraordinarily difficult - even for a president.
Professor Denny Indrayana is an internationally recognised anticorruption campaigner who has played a leading role in law reform efforts in Indonesia. He is currently a Visiting Professor at Melbourne Law School and the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne and Professor of Constitutional Law at Gadjah Mada University. Before being sworn in as Vice Minister of Law and Human Rights, Denny was Special Advisor for Legal Affairs, Human Rights and Anticorruption to President Yudhoyono, Chair of the Centre for the Study of AntiCorruption at Gadjah Mada University, and Director of the Indonesian Court Monitoring NGO. Denny has a PhD from the Melbourne Law School and won the prestigious Australian Alumni Award in 2009. He has written hundreds of articles and books.
- "Political Corruption - Elections and Beyond: Perspectives from indonesia and Australia"
Hosted by the Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society and the Electoral Regulation Research Network
23 August 2016
- "The Development of Islamic Banking in Malaysia"
Datuk Dr Nik Norzrul Thani
Hosted by the Asian Law Centre, The Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society and the Transactional Law Group
5 July 2016In this seminar, Datuk Dr Nik Norzrul Thani spoke on Islamic Banking in Malaysia and identified the opportunities and challenges, both for legal practitioners and also for market participants.
Presenter Datuk Dr Nik Norzrul Thani is Senior Partner of ZICOlaw in Kuala Lumpur and an Honorary Fellow at Melbourne Law School. He advises clients on a wide range of legal matters incorporating Islamic finance, banking, offshore finance, debt restructuring, international, corporate and commercial law.
Mr Datuk Dr Nik was a Visiting Fulbright Scholar at Harvard Law School from 1996 to 1997, and a Chevening Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, Oxford University. He was also formerly the Acting Dean/Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Laws, International Islamic University Malaysia.
He has published and spoken extensively in the area of Islamic finance, including as co-author of Law and Practice of Islamic Banking & Finance, Sweet & Maxwell, 2003 (First Edition) and 2010 (Second Edition).
- "A Cruel Game of Chance: Administration of the Death Penalty in India"
Dr Anup Surendranath
Seminar hosted by the Asian Law Centre, Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society, and Reprieve Australia
22 March 2016Based on interviews with all of India’s death row prisoners and their families between June 2013 and January 2015, the Centre on the Death Penalty at National Law University, Delhi has documented the socio-economic profile of prisoners under the sentence of death along with mapping their interaction with various aspects of the Indian criminal justice system. While discussing issues of discrimination, custodial torture, incompetent representation, prison conditions and alienation from the legal system in the context of his work with death row prisoners, in this seminar, Dr. Anup Surendranath also reflected on the Centre’s experience in providing pro bono representation to over 40 death row prisoners in the last 18 months. Dr. Anup Surendranath is the Director of the Centre on the Death Penalty at National Law University, Delhi.
Dr Anup Surendranath (National Law University Delhi) Dr. Anup Surendranath is the Director of the Centre on the Death Penalty at National Law University, Delhi. After obtaining his law degree from NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad (India), he was a Felix Scholar at the University of Oxford between 2007-12 where he was awarded the BCL (Distinction), M.Phil in Law (Distinction) and the D.Phil in Law. He had the rare honour of being invited by the Supreme Court of India to serve as a Deputy Registrar (Research) in May 2014, an academic appointment last made in the late 80s. Dr. Surendranath resigned from this post in light of the Supreme Court’s handling of Yakub Memon’s execution in July 2015.
- "Asylum Seekers and the Australia-Indonesia Relationship"
Mr David Manne, Professor Susan Kneebone, Professor Michelle Foster and Dr Antje Missbach
Hosted by the Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society
15 March 2016Indonesia currently has more than 13,000 asylum seekers and refugees in its territory. Although irregular departures of asylum seeker boats from Indonesia to Australia have slowed down, numbers of new arrivals in Indonesia are steady. Indonesia's capacity to host these people for the long term and provide them with proper protection are reaching their limits.
A number of Australia's policies and practices, such as forcibly returning asylum seekers by boat to Indonesia, were met with harsh criticism in Indonesia. Unlike other countries in the region, Indonesia does not want to accommodate Australia's unwanted asylum seekers but it has - so far - no durable solution on offer. Despite frequent demands for 'regional solutions' for asylum seekers and refugees in the region, progress on establishing a coherent regional framework for refugee protection has remained elusive.
In this seminar, prominent scholars of refugee law and asylum seeker issues discuss current developments and consider their implications for a range of issues, including foreign policy, regional politics and Indonesia's relations with Australia.