Description
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In 2010, the University of Leipzig, the University of Brawijaya (Malang) and the Jakarta State University signed an academic cooperation contract with the aim to provide a basis for interdisciplinary academic exchange between scholars as well as students in the fields of law and studies of cultures. In July 2011, an interdisciplinary summer school took place at the Faculty of Law in Leipzig with German and Indonesian students and lecturers from Leipzig, Malang and Jakarta. Under the framework "United in Diversity? Framing Diversity in Indonesia and Germany", topics on migration, integration, religion and law were presented and are now documented in this book. The title "United in Diversity" has been chosen as it is the Indonesia national motto and also the motto of the European Union.
The articles written by Indonesian law scholars and students in this book describe the implementation of the Indonesian national motto "Unity in Diversity" in the Indonesian contemporary legal system. The motto is inscribed in the Indonesian national symbol, Garuda Pancasila, and mentioned specifically in Article 36A of the Indonesian Constitution. This recognition shows how important it is for the Indonesian pluralistic society that consists of many different ethnicities, races, and religions or beliefs.
The articles analyse the Indonesian human rights law, press law, education law, general election law, intellectual property law, customary law, and Islamic law. The articles also discuss how those laws can provide support to the implementation of the Unity in Diversity motto, and provide some critics about the legal loopholes that can threaten the existence of the motto and therefore, the existence of the Indonesian pluralistic society.
The articles written by German scholars and students provide an insight into the socio-cultural meaning and the legal implementation of diversity on the national level with the example of Germany and also on the European and International level. The focus of the papers here lies in particular on aspects of religious diversity in a modern nation-state facing different migration flows. Religious-secular conflicts in Western Europe emerge against the background of one's freedom of faith and conscience, the state's obligation to remain neutral in religious matters and the increasing mixture of religious practices that find their way into the public.
