ABSTRACT

Following on from the theoretical discussion of Chapter 4, this chapter will specifically analyze the process of conflict resolution in the courts. The main question developed is: How are interpersonal cases, arising from conflict between people with different legal backgrounds, resolved through the judicial process? The courts are the real testing grounds of legal pluralism in Indonesia, since the several substantive rules of adat, Islamic, and Dutch civil law cannot be brought completely into line using legislation. In these cases, the judge is theoretically the only agent of the state who can be expected to find a resolution through the legal adjudicative method. For this reason, three recent cases of interfaith marriage, interfaith inheritance, and gendered inheritance have been chosen for analysis as examples of the process of resolution of the interpersonal cases brought before the court. The background to these legal problems will also be explained in order to show the real nature of the conflicts of law, especially within the framework of the state’s program of legal nationalization.