source : http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailworld.asp?fileid=20060830.I01&irec=0
Indonesia wins Asian law competition in Japan Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta For the first time, the country has shown its has the potential to produce lawyers as capable as those from other countries after students from the University of Indonesia's School of Law beat students from other top universities in Asia to win the Asia Cup in Tokyo recently. "We defeated the team from the University of Malaya, Malaysia, in the final last Tuesday. This is the first time in eight years we have won the Asia Cup," the dean of the University of Indonesia's School of Law, Hikmahanto Juwana, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday. On the way to the final, Indonesia defeated teams from the National University of Singapore, the Philippines' Atheneo University, Thailand's Chulalongkorn University, the University of Hong Kong and Waseda University, Osaka University and Kyoto University in Japan. The students presented their arguments as though they were battling out international disputes in front of the International Court of Justice. Academics, experienced judges, diplomats and lawyers acted as the judges and jury. Before presenting their arguments, the students were given research time to support their case. Indonesia was represented by Harjo Winoto, Melissa Butar Butar, Novriady Erman and Fitriani Chairani. The country has participated eight times in the competition. In the last two years, it came in second. "Beside providing a valuable experience and boosting the confidence of the Indonesian students, we can show the government we don't have to hire international lawyers to help us in international disputes," Hikmahanto said. He said the Asia Cup win was a step in the right direction and hoped Indonesia could, in the future, avoid outcomes like the loss of Sipadan and Ligitan islands to Malaysia because the government hired expensive international lawyers, who turned out to be unfamiliar with Indonesia's position in the dispute. Indonesia lost the two islands to Malaysia in 2002 after the dispute was brought before the International Court of Justice. Indonesia lost to Malaysia by 16 votes to one in the final decision. Many people slammed the government for its failure to retain ownership of the islands, while underlining the weak capabilities of local lawyers to compete with their counterparts from other countries. It appeared the country was in desperate need of top lawyers, particularly as the Navy had identified that over a dozen islands around the Indonesian border could be claimed by other countries. Besides land and border disputes, Indonesia is involved in many other cases worth billions of rupiah, including disputes between Pertamina and U.S.-based energy firm Karaha Bodas Company, to be settled at the international tribune. The potential of the country's law students was also evident when a team from the same university ranked 19 out of 99 countries worldwide in the Jessup Competition in Washington DC earlier this year. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com *************************************************************************** Berdikusi dg Santun & Elegan, dg Semangat Persahabatan. Menuju Indonesia yg Lebih Baik, in Commonality & Shared Destiny. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia *************************************************************************** __________________________________________________________________________ Mohon Perhatian: 1. Harap tdk. memposting/reply yg menyinggung SARA (kecuali sbg otokritik) 2. Pesan yg akan direply harap dihapus, kecuali yg akan dikomentari. 3. Reading only, http://dear.to/ppi 4. Satu email perhari: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 5. No-email/web only: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 6. kembali menerima email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
