VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesia and the Netherlands share commonalities in the substantive law and legal structure, or called "legal DNA," and future challenges in terms of the rule of law and security, Dutch Ambassador to Indonesia Rob Swartbol stated.

"Much of the laws here in Indonesia are based on old Dutch laws; of course, that should be modernized, but the basic foundation of our two legal systems are quite similar and are quite the same," he stated, during the Indonesia-Netherlands Rule of Law and Security Update (INLU) 2018 held in Erasmus Huis, Jakarta, on Wednesday.

Cooperation on the rule of law between institutions of both countries had been started since 1968. Since then, Indonesia and the Netherlands have been working closely to improve the rule of the law and share future challenges.

Some of the common concerns include creating inclusive societies, regulating the use of internet and social media, curbing cyber war, dealing with hate speech, fighting climate change and environmental degradation, as well as dealing with illegal fishing.

According to Swartbol, both countries have to find answers to these new challenges, some of which even transcend physical borders.

However tempting it is to do quick fixes, solutions have to be based on the rule of law within strong democracies, such as Indonesia and the Netherlands.

"Despite both countries running the risk of creating rule by law, the question is on how to reconcile freedom of expression, with the need to protect our societies from misleading information and; how to balance openness and transparency that makes our economy grow and flourish, with the privacy we need as human beings to be happy and to secure. These are vital questions that we all face," he noted.

Delivering a keynote speech at the INLU, Indonesian Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly stressed the importance of cooperation with the Netherlands on law reform process, including providing access to justice and legal education as well as ensuring public`s trust to legal institutions.

In terms of information and technology (IT) challenges, the Indonesian government has been working with IT companies to tackle the potential threat and cyber crimes coming from the social media.

Indonesia has also held a meeting with Australia, New Zealand, and some other neighbor countries to discussing how communication technology can bring benefits to people, without the fear of its use to promote any terror acts.

"Countries must be able to cooperate with others to create some pressure on the balance between freedom of speech and access of public information," Laoly noted.

The INLU 2018 is a two-day conference to discuss undercurrents in society as well as new insights and approaches to safeguard and strengthen accessible, accountable, inclusive, and sustainable judicial systems both in Indonesia and in the Netherlands.