Legislative cooperation with Indonesia

An online seminar between Korea and Indonesia was held on Feb. 5 and March 25 at the Ministry of Government Legislation of the Republic of Korea, with about 60 public officials of the Cabinet Secretariat of the Republic of Indonesia in attendance. It was a seminar where legislative officers of our ministry, who are in charge of statutory examination, shared Korea’s legal system and legislative process with Indonesian officials.

There were active discussions on similarities and differences between the two countries’ legal systems and legislative affairs. The Indonesian officials had a lot of interest in the legal and institutional background that enabled Korea to achieve rapid economic growth and democratization in a short period of time despite the Korean War. I could feel their enthusiasm for transforming Indonesia into an advanced country.

Indonesia, the world’s fourth-most-populous country and the leader of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), has maintained close relations with Korea since the two sides began exchanges and cooperation in 1966. Since the then-minister of government legislation visited Indonesia in 2018, our ministry has continued to have close cooperative ties with the country in the field of legislation.

Indonesia has strived to establish laws and systems to enable the country to make an economic leap based on its large domestic market with a population of over 200 million and its abundant natural resources. President Joko Widodo of Indonesia, who believed that excessive regulations on business activities and a conflict between laws hinder national development, thoroughly examined the legislative systems of advanced countries.

He concluded that it is necessary to establish a “unitary legislative organization,” like the Ministry of Government Legislation, and requested us to dispatch a public official from our ministry to the country. The dispatched official participated in designing the functions of the unitary legislative organization to be established and held monthly seminars on Korea’s legislative processes and legal information system for six months from September 2019 to February 2020. The officials of the two countries worked together to improve Indonesia’s laws and systems.

In September last year, our ministry and the Cabinet Secretariat signed the 2020-2021 Action Plan to strengthen legislative exchange and cooperation by sharing Korea’s legislative system and providing education to the public officials of Indonesia. Last December, we produced educational videos on 12 topics, including “Korea’s legal system and legislative process,” and sent them to the Cabinet Secretariat.

The videos have been used to improve the legislative capabilities of the public officials of the organization. The officials who have seen the videos asked for an in-depth discussion. In response, we have held an online seminar to provide detailed legislative education for working-level officials every month since February and plan to continue it through July.

This year, our ministry and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) will start a project to establish in Indonesia a legal information system that is similar to the National Law Information Center of Korea in order to promote the rule of law in the country. In addition, cooperative activities without direct contact, such as webinars and online lessons will continue despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the past 50 years, Korea has transformed itself from a recipient country of official development assistance to a significant donor, and from a country that adopted the systems and cultures of advanced countries to a country that provides experience and knowledge to other countries.

We will continue to share the so-called “K-legislation” that contributed to Korea’s economic growth and democratization with Indonesia and other young and dynamic countries and new growth engines of the world economy in order to enhance national prestige and lay the foundations for mutual prosperity.