The Indonesian Business, Law and Society (IBLS) program is one of ACICIS’ semester programs in Yogyakarta. Students on the IBLS have the opportunity to study at Indonesia’s oldest private university, Universitas Islam Indonesia (UII). As part of the IBLS program, students have the option to undertake a professional placement (internship) at leading Indonesian institutions and NGO’s in the fields of business, economics, law and society.

For semester 44 (January 2017), ACICIS welcomed four students on the IBLS program. All four students were recipients of a New Colombo Plan Mobility Grant. Two students: Kaitlin Pepper (University of Sunshine Coast) and Aylin Nazim (University of Technology Sydney) chose to completed the professional placement (internship) and were placed with UII’s own legal aid organisation “Lembaga Konsultasi dan Bantuan Hukum (LKBH UII)”. LKBH UII facilitates legal assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system, and also in providing legal education for society.

During their placement with LKBH UII, Kaitlin and Aylin were assigned to observe consultations with legal clients, to attend court sessions at Pengadilan Negeri (District Court) and Pengadilan Agama (Religious Court), to assist in mediation sessions and with legal instruments. They were also tasked with a research project focusing on analyzing Indonesian law or undertaking a comparative study of Indonesian and Australian legal systems.

After completing their nine weeks internship period, Kaitlin and Aylin presented their research project in front of the assessors from UII, LKBH UII and ACICIS representatives. For their research project, Kaitlin chose the topic of “Improving Access to Justice: How Community-Based Organisations in Australia and Indonesia Can Better Overcome Barriers to Justice” and Aylin chose the topic of “The Applicability of Islamic Law in Indonesia within the Modern Context”.

Congratulations to all of the IBLS Semester 44 participants! We are all very proud of you and thank you for a wonderful semester. We wish you the best of luck in your future endeavours!