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 45 (August 2017), ACICIS welcomed two students on the IBLS program. All students were recipients of a New Colombo Plan Mobility Grant. Rose Matthews (University of Western Australia) chose to undertake the professional placement (internship) 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 or access to the court system, and also provides legal education to local communities.

During her placement with LKBH UII, Rose was 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 to draft legal instruments. Rose was also tasked with a research project focusing on analysing Indonesian law, through a comparative study of Indonesian and Australian legal systems.

Barnaby Pekin-Stores (Griffith University) chose to complete the professional placement (internship) with the Centre for Human Rights Studies of the Islamic University of Indonesia “Pusat Studi Hak Asasi Manusia UII (PUSHAM UII)”. PUSHAM UII provides human rights training, advocacy and undertakes research projects on human rights.

After completing their internship, Rose and Barnaby presented their research projects in front of the assessors from UII, LKBH UII, PUSHAM UII and ACICIS representatives. For their research project, Rose chose the topic of “Gendered Discrimination in Indonesia’s Legal System” and Barnaby chose the topic of “The Push and Pull Factor of Extremism in Indonesia”.

Congratulations to both IBLS Semester 45 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!

Read more about this ACICIS program here: Indonesian Business, Law and Society Program.