The LAMPU project is a collaboration initiative between the Van Vollenhoven Institute (VVI) and the Law Faculty of Gadjah Mada University (FH UGM) in Yogyakarta. LAMPU is the acronym for this project, but in Indonesian it also means ‘lamp’.  In this project we look beyond legal technicalities, putting the spotlight on processes of law making and highlighting all those stages that come before passing a bill in Parliament – which may  take years or even decades, and in some cases just a few months.

Lawmaking between law and politics

There is great concern among academics about the political turn in lawmaking in Indonesia. Critical observers argue that civic political participation in law making processes in Indonesia has become a neat tool for disciplining intellectuals and their critical narratives rather than the direct democratic step in the process it was supposed to be. A number of legislative regulations in various sectors in Indonesia have been the result of a very chaotic process. Examples are the procedural aspects during law making of the Corruption Eradication Commission Law, the Job Creation Omnibus Law, the Constitutional Court Law, the Mineral and Coal Law, as well as many other laws and regulations which were drafted in the last decade under political control during the Jokowi administration. The House of Representatives (DPR) has not actively resisted the democratic decline.

At the Van Vollenhoven Institute Indonesian PhD researchers and alumni together with senior VVI researchers have started a comparative project (LAMPU) on lawmaking focusing on the process rather than the resulting legislation only, researching how a variety of actors influences the process and its outcome. Has lawmaking become a means for powerful actors in dismantling parts of democracy? This topic has international relevance as comparative case, and is interdisciplinary in character. After working on draft chapters for a joint publication the VVI group is seeking cooperation with a wider group of academics in Indonesia and Leiden studying democratic vulnerabilities, political lobby strategies, and civic activism related to law making.

LAMPU activities and objectives

During staff exchange through the Erasmus+ICM program in 2024 colleagues from UGM joined the LAMPU project.  After the first brainstorming phase, LAMPU colleagues convened on 11-12 September in Leiden for a closed write shop, aimed at presenting and discussing first draft chapters of the volume, while developing a shared analytical framework.  In 2025 we plan to organize an international workshop and seminar. Lawmaking is a subject taught at Indonesian law schools in a very doctrinal way teaching students the legal-technical skill of drafting legislation in conformity with the Law on lawmaking (2014). However, in practice  the content of new laws had become subject to influences of a variety of stakeholders. Socio-legal studies address both sides of the process, the legal and political.

LAMPU’s objectives are:

• Analyzing the complexities of law making in Indonesia’s recent politics.
• Strengthening research collaboration among Indonesian and Dutch legal scholars on law making issues.
• Develop a socio-legal approach to the analysis of law making in Indonesia.
• Publish a book that will also serve as a source of reference for teaching about law making.

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