The Influence of External Actors on Human Rights Incorporation in the 1949 Federal Constitution of Indonesia

Abstract

This article discusses how the incorporation of human rights provisionsin the 1949 Federal Constitution of Indonesia has been influenced by thepolitical constellation marked by the involvement of the Netherlands andthe United Nations (UN) as external actors. The study in this article isconsidered a socio-legal study in line with its interdisciplinary character,which could be specified as legal history research. The general conclusiondrawn shows that the settlement of disputes regarding the issue ofdecolonization through the Round Table Conference has conditionedthe incorporation of human rights into the 1949 Federal Constitution.It appears that from the clauses outlined in the Linggarjati Agreementand the Statute of the Netherlands-Indonesia Union, the 1949 FederalConstitution mutatis mutandis was conditioned to adopt constitutionalguarantees of human rights. In addition, the involvement of the UNindirectly makes the incorporation of human rights possible, as theUN was established with one of its main objectives to promote respectfor human rights.