Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

, a regional regulation ( Indonesian: ''peraturan daerah'' or its acronym ''perda'') is a regulation that is passed by Indonesian local governments and carry the force of law in that region. There are two levels of regional regulations.

Provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

pass provincial regulation (peraturan daerah provinsi), while the second tier subdivisions of Indonesia, known as regencies and cities pass regency regulation (peraturan daerah kabupaten) and city regulation (peraturan daerah kota), respectively.Law No 12 of 2011, Art 1: 7-8 Each type of regional regulation is passed by the region's parliamentary body together with their chief executive (governor, regent or mayor, depending on region).

History

As part of the post-Suharto reforms, Indonesia granted more power to local governments. This decentralization of power was largely governed by two laws passed in 1999 and 2004. Although, outside of Aceh, regional governments are not allowed to enact regulations based on religious affairs and are not allowed to enact religious criminal laws. As lieu of legislation laws related to religious affairs are only mandated through the appointed Indonesian ministry of religious affairs from the central government that is only related to personal status issues, not by local governments. These laws authorized the local governments and legislatures to pass regional regulations that carry the force of law, as long as they do not conflict with laws or regulations that are higher in the hierarchy of laws.

Position in the hierarchy of laws

According to Indonesian Law No 12 of 2011, regional regulations occupy the lowest positions in Indonesia's hierarchy of laws. Provincial regulations are subordinate to, in order, the Constitution, Decree of

People's Consultative Assembly The People's Consultative Assembly of the Republic of Indonesia ( id, Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat Republik Indonesia, MPR-RI) is the legislative branch in Indonesia's political system. It is composed of the members of the People's Rep ...

(''Ketetapan MPR''), Law (''Undang-Undang'') or Government Regulation In Lieu of Law (''Peraturan Pemerintah Pengganti Undang-Undang'' or ''Perppu''), Government Regulation, and Presidential Regulation. Regency and City regulations occupy the lowest position, right beneath provincial regulations. This Law No 12 of 2011 have been amended with government regulations in lieu of legislation Law No 15 of 2019.

Regional variations

The provinces of

Aceh Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. Granted a ...

and Papua refer to their regional regulations with special names. In Aceh, they are known as ''qanun'' (from an Arabic word meaning "law" or "rules") while Papua uses the name "special regional regulation" ( Indonesian: ''peraturan daerah khusus'' or ''perdasus''). Additionally, in Aceh ''qanun''s are also used to enact provisions of Islamic criminal law.

Notable regional regulations

The province of Aceh passed a series of ''qanuns'' enforcing some provisions of Islamic law, including Islamic criminal law. The latest, passed in 2014 and went into effect in 2015, criminalizes the consumption and production of liquor, gambling, being alone with someone of the opposite sex who is not a spouse or a relative (this violation is called ''khalwat''), committing intimacy outside marriage (''ikhtilath''), fornication (''zina''), rape, falsely accusing someone of conducting fornication (''qadzaf''), sodomy, and

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

acts (''musahaqah''). The penalty for violations includes caning, fines, and imprisonment. The human rights groups

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and s ...

and

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human ...

criticized this regulation, citing its use of

caning Caning is a form of corporal punishment consisting of a number of hits (known as "strokes" or "cuts") with a single cane usually made of rattan, generally applied to the offender's bare or clothed buttocks (see spanking) or hands (on the ...

as a punishment, as well as the criminalization of consensual sex outside marriage. The province

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and ...

, which is also an island and a popular tourist destination, has a regional regulation limiting building height in the entire island. Buildings in Bali cannot exceed 15 metres, exceptions are generally given to public facilities.Bali Regional Regulation 16 of 2009
Art. 95 The height limit is based on the height of coconut trees. In 2017,

Trump Entertainment Resorts Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc. was a gambling and hospitality company. The company previously owned and operated the now-demolished Trump Plaza and Trump World's Fair (both in Atlantic City), the now-closed Trump Marina, Trump Casino & Hote ...

's plans for a new hotel with a tower, met with objections, including over the possible violation of the height restriction regulations.

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

* {{cite journal, title=The Islamic Legal System in Indonesia, last1=Cammack, first1=Mark E., last2=Feener, first2=R. Michael, date=2012, journal=Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal , volume=21 , issue=1 , pages=13–42 , url=http://digital.law.washington.edu/dspace-law/bitstream/handle/1773.1/1091/21PRPLJ013.pdf
Indonesian Law No 12 of 2011
Law of Indonesia