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Domestic Implementation of International Law in Indonesia and Thailand

Abstract

This article examines problems related to the domestic implementation of international law by comparing practices in Indonesia and Thailand. When Indonesia and Thailand are involved as State Parties of international treaties, this action has legal consequences not only between them and other State Parties but also for the implementation of the obligations under the relevant treaties via a transformation process under their Constitutions. Generally, countries regulate the transformation process of international treaty in their constitutions, but this is not the case for Indonesia. Meanwhile, Article 178 of Thai Constitution provides the process of transformation of international law into Thai domestic law, even though some clauses of this article may have some ambiguity and may need an amendment in order to narrow down the scope of this Article. In order to avoid the vagueness of the validity of international law in domestic implementation, in the first part of this article, the authors shall analyze Indonesian and Thai practices in implementing international law, and in the second part, we shall compare the practice of courts in positioning international law. Finally, the focus of the third part will be our recommendations for better implementation of treaties into the domestic laws of both countries. In this regard, it may be necessary to amend the Constitutions of both countries. However, this choice shall depend on the awareness of the governments’ concerns based on national interests and may need more transformation process of treaties into their own domestic laws.

Bahasa Abstract

Artikel ini bertujuan mengkaji permasalahan terkait penerapan hukum internasional di dalam negeri dengan membandingkan praktik di Indonesia dan Thailand. Ketika Indonesia dan Thailand berpartisipasi sebagai Negara Pihak pada perjanjian internasional, tindakan ini mempunyai konsekuensi hukum tidak hanya antara mereka dan Negara Pihak lainnya namun juga Negara harus melaksanakan kewajiban berdasarkan perjanjian melalui proses implementasi domestik sesuai dengan persyaratan Konstitusi mereka. Secara umum, setiap negara mengatur proses transformasi perjanjian internasional dalam konstitusinya, namun tidak demikian halnya dengan Indonesia. Sementara itu, Pasal 178 Konstitusi Thailand mengatur proses transformasi hukum internasional menjadi hukum domestik Thailand, meskipun beberapa klausul dalam pasal ini memiliki ambiguitas dan memerlukan amandemen untuk mempersempit ruang lingkup Pasal ini. Untuk menghindari ketidakjelasan validitas hukum internasional dalam implementasi di dalam negeri, pada bagian pertama artikel ini, penulis menganalisis praktik-praktik Indonesia dan Thailand dalam menerapkan hukum internasional, dan pada bagian kedua, membandingkan praktik pengadilan dalam memposisikan hukum internasional. Yang terakhir, fokus bagian pada ketiga adalah rekomendasi untuk penerapan perjanjian yang lebih baik ke dalam hukum domestik kedua negara. Dalam hal ini, perlu dilakukan amandemen terhadap Konstitusi kedua negara. Namun, pilihan ini bergantung pada kesadaran pemerintah berdasarkan kepentingan nasional dan hal ini memerlukan lebih banyak proses transformasi perjanjian menjadi undang-undang domestik.

References

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