Human Rights in the Indonesian Constitutional System Post-Amendment of the 1945 Constitution
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.38035/snlpr.v2i1.754Keywords:
Human Rights, 1945 Constitution Amendments, Rights-Based Constitutionalism, Judicial Review, IndonesiaAbstract
The 1999–2002 amendments to the 1945 Constitution marked a significant transformation in Indonesia's constitutional framework, particularly with the inclusion of Chapter XA on Human Rights. This chapter contains a comprehensive catalogue of rights, civil, political, economic, social, and cultural, textually adopting norms from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This study aims to analyze these constitutional changes from a rights-based constitutionalism perspective and examine the gap between constitutional norms and the practical implementation of human rights in Indonesia. Using a normative-analytical approach and comparative constitutional law, this research finds that, while Indonesia's human rights catalogue aligns with international standards, its implementation still faces serious challenges, such as a low Fundamental Rights score (0.54) according to the World Justice Project (2023), and inconsistent judicial rulings. Comparative analysis reveals that Indonesia stands between the Philippines' strict scrutiny model and South Africa's transformative constitutionalism. The study recommends strengthening constitutional review standards, enhancing the capacity of non-judicial institutions, and integrating human rights education into national policy.
References
Arato, A. (2021). Post-sovereign constitution-making twenty years later. Annual Review of Law and Social Science, 17, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-031720-074845
Barak, A. (2021). Proportionality: Constitutional rights and their limitations (rev. ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Bernas, J. G. (2020). The 1987 Philippine Constitution: A commentary (updated ed.). Rex Book Store.
Bickel, A. M. (1962). The least dangerous branch: The Supreme Court at the bar of politics. Yale University Press.
Bilchitz, D. (2021). Constitutionalism, courts, and transformative social rights. International Journal of Constitutional Law, 19(3), 935–962. https://doi.org/10.1093/icon/moab047
Butt, S. (2022). Constitutional change and rights protection in Indonesia. In M. Crouch (Ed.), Law and politics of the Indonesian constitutional court (pp. 75–96). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108887095.006
Butt, S. (2022). Indonesian constitutional rights: Structure, substance, and implementation. Cambridge University Press.
Butt, S. (2023). Indonesia's legislative process: Participation, transparency, and accountability. Australian Journal of Asian Law, 24(2), 89–105
Butt, S., & Lindsey, T. (2020). The constitution of Indonesia: A contextual analysis (2nd ed.). Hart Publishing. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781509923256
Carothers, T. (2021). Rule of law and the role of non-judicial institutions. Journal of Democracy, 32(1), 56–70
Chen, A. H. Y., & Yeh, J.-R. (2020). Judicial review in Asia: Institutional design and legitimacy. Asian Journal of Comparative Law, 15(1), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1017/asjcl.2020.5
Crouch, M. (2019). The politics of court reform: Judicial change in Indonesia. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108649785
Davis, R., & Versteeg, M. (2020). The global spread of constitutional rights: The role of international law. International Journal of Constitutional Law, 18(2), 357–383. https://doi.org/10.1093/icon/moaa017
Dixon, R., & Ginsburg, T. (2021). The forms and limits of constitutions. International Journal of Constitutional Law, 19(3), 721–749. https://doi.org/10.1093/icon/moab020
Donnelly, J. (2019). Universal human rights in theory and practice. Cornell University Press
Ginsburg, T., & Huq, A. Z. (2018). How to save a constitutional democracy. University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226564418.001.0001
Ginsburg, T., & Melton, J. (2015). Judicial independence in comparative perspective. Cambridge University Press.
Halliday, T. C., & Shaffer, G. (2015). Researching law globally. Cambridge University Press.
Hirschl, R. (2004). Towards juristocracy: The origins and consequences of the new constitutionalism. Harvard University Press
Hofileña, M. P., & Abad, M. F. (2022). Judicial review and the strict scrutiny doctrine in Philippine constitutional law. Philippine Law Journal, 96(1), 45–78
Human Rights Commission of Malaysia. (2023). Annual report 2022. SUHAKAM.
Hutchinson, T., & Duncan, N. (2012). Defining and describing what we do: Doctrinal legal research. Deakin Law Review, 17(1), 83–119. https://doi.org/10.21153/dlr2012vol17no1art70
International IDEA & UNDP. (2021). Advancing constitutional reform for democratic resilience. International IDEA. https://www.idea.int
International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA). (2023). The global state of democracy 2023: The challenge of political representation. International IDEA.
Khosla, M. (2020). India's founding moment: The constitution of a most surprising democracy. Harvard University Press.
Klare, K. (1998). Legal culture and transformative constitutionalism. South African Journal on Human Rights, 14(1), 146–188.
Komnas HAM RI. (2024). Annual report 2023. National Human Rights Commission of the Republic of Indonesia.
Krippendorff, K. (2018). Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Landau, D. (2020). Abusive constitutionalism. UC Davis Law Review, 53(2), 809–850.
Landau, D., & Dixon, R. (2019). The limits of constitutional design: Enforcement of human rights. International Journal of Constitutional Law, 17(2), 417–447
Lindsey, T., & Butt, S. (2021). Indonesian law. Oxford University Press.
Mulyadi, L., & Prasetyo, T. (2021). Proportionality in Indonesian constitutional adjudication. Constitutional Review, 7(1), 1–26.
Ombudsman of the Republic of Indonesia. (2024). Annual report 2023. Ombudsman of the Republic of Indonesia.
Popova, M., & Lupu, Y. (2023). Judicial resilience in democratic and authoritarian regimes. Cambridge University Press.
Republic of Indonesia. (2022). Law Number 13 of 2022 concerning the Second Amendment to Law Number 12 of 2011 concerning the Establishment of Laws and Regulations. Statute Book of the Republic of Indonesia of 2022 Number 142.
Roznai, Y. (2017). Unconstitutional constitutional amendments: The limits of amendment powers. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198759820.001.0001
Scheppele, K. L. (2020). Autocratic legalism. The University of Chicago Law Review, 85(2), 545–583
South African Human Rights Commission. (2023). Annual report 2022–2023. SAHRC.
Stone, A. (2019). Constitutionalism and rights: The influence of the European Court of Human Rights. Oxford University Press.
Thompson, B. Z. (2019). Rule of law and development: Charting the fragile path of progress. Cambridge University Press.
Tushnet, M. (2009). The Constitution of the United States of America: A contextual analysis. Hart Publishing.
UN Human Rights Committee. (2021). General Comment No. 34 (update) on Article 19 of the ICCPR; UN Human Rights Committee. (2020). General Comment No. 37 on the right of peaceful assembly (Art. 21).
United Nations. (1948). Universal Declaration of Human Rights. United Nations General Assembly. https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights
United Nations. (1966). International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. United Nations Treaty Series, Vol. 999. https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/ccpr.aspx
UTT, S. (2022). Indonesian constitutional rights: Structure, substance, and implementation. Cambridge University Press.
Versteeg, M., & Horley, E. (2021). The resilience of rights in democratic constitutions. International Journal of Constitutional Law, 19(4), 1261–1290. https://doi.org/10.1093/icon/moab035
World Justice Project. (2023). Rule of law index 2023. World Justice Project
Yap, P. (2021). Meaningful participation in constitutional reform: Comparative lessons for Asia. Asian Journal of Comparative Law, 16(2), 287–316. https://doi.org/10.1017/asjcl.2021.17
Zweigert, K., & Kötz, H. (1998). An introduction to comparative law (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Kimico Margaretha Tjhia, Faisal Santiago, Tina Amelia

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.















