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Simon Butt

Profile

Degrees

  • BA (Asian Studies – Indonesian) (Hons) Australian National University;
  • LLB (Hons) Australian National University;
  • PhD University of Melbourne

Courses taught

  • Indonesian Law

Research interests:

  • Indonesian law generally, including constitutional, criminal, civil, human rights, commercial, Islamic and customary (adatlaw.
  • Comparative law – particularly transplanting legal norms between jurisdictions.

Brief biographical details

Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Sydney; Member of Centre for Asian and Pacific Law at the University of Sydney.

Prior to joining the faculty, Simon worked as a consultant on the Indonesian legal system to the Australian government, the private sector and international organisations, including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ). He has taught in over 70 law courses in Indonesia on a diverse range of topics, including intellectual property, Indonesian criminal law, Indonesian terrorism law and legislative drafting. He is fluent in Indonesian.

In 2008 Simon's thesis titled "Judicial review in Indonesia: between civil law and accountability? A study of constitutional court decisions 2003-2005" was awarded the University of Melbourne Chancellor’s Prize for Excellence in the PhD Thesis.

Publications

Books

  • Co-author and editor of: Tim Lindsey, Eddy Damian, Simon Butt, Tomi Suryo Utomo (eds), Hak Kekayaan Intelektual: Suatu Pengantar [Intellectual Property Rights: An Introduction], Alumni, Bandung (2002).

Journal Articles

  • ‘Indonesia’s Constitutional Court: Privatisation and Democratisation’, with Tim Lindsey, in Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies (forthcoming, August, 2008).
  • Review of Bedner and Niessen (eds), Towards Integrated Environmental Law in Indonesia in: Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, August (2006).
  • ‘TRIPs and intellectual property law reform in Indonesia: why injunctions aren’t stopping piracy’, with Tim Lindsey, Harvard Asia Pacific Review, Winter 2005.
  • ‘The Masykur Abdul Kadir Case: Indonesian Constitutional Court decision No 013/PUU-I/2003’ 6(2) Australian Journal of Asian Law 1 (2004).
  • ‘Indonesia’s Draft Criminal Code: can legal diversity exist within a single national law’ 28(6) Alternative Law Journal 304 (2003).
  • ‘Intellectual Property Law in Indonesia: A Problematic Legal Transplant’ 24(9) European Intellectual Property Review 429 (2002).

Book Chapters

  • ‘Intellectual Property Law in Indonesia: A Problematic Legal Transplant’, in T Lindsey (ed), Indonesia: Law and Society, 2nd edition, Federation Press, Sydney (2008).
  • ‘Surat Sakti: the Decline of the Authority of Judicial Decisions in Indonesia’, in T Lindsey (ed), Indonesia: Law and Society, 2nd edition, Federation Press, Sydney (2008).
  • ‘Islam, Polygamy and Mixed Marriage in Indonesia’, in T Lindsey (ed), Indonesia: Law and Society, 2nd edition, Federation Press, Sydney (2008).
  • 'The People's Prosperity? Indonesian Constitutional Interpretation, Economic Reform and Globalisation', with Tim Lindsey, in John Gillespie and Randall Perrenboom eds., Pushing Back On Globalization: Asian Regulatory Perspectives, London: RoutledgeCurzon (forthcoming, 2008).
  • ‘Banishing judicial accountability? The Constitutional Court’s Decision in the Dispute Between the Supreme Court and the Judicial Commission’, in Andrew MacIntyre and Ross McLeod (eds), Democracy and the Promise of Good Governance, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (2007).
  • ‘Intellectual property, civil law and the failure of law in Indonesia: can criminal enforcement of economic law work in developing countries?’ with Tim Lindsey, in T Lindsey (ed) Law Reform in Transitional and Developing States, Routledge, London (2006).
  • Intellectual Property Law Tab in: Doing Business in Indonesia, CCH, Singapore (2000-2004).

Monographs

  • ‘Anti-Terrorism Law and Criminal Process in Indonesia’, Islam, Syari’ah and Governance Background Paper Series, ARC Federation Fellowship, University of Melbourne (2008).
  • Looking forward: local dispute resolution mechanisms in East Timor, with Natalie David and Nathan Laws, Australian Legal Resources International (2004).

Conference Papers/Presentations

  • ‘Recent Indonesian constitutional court decisions on corruption’, Presented at Law Reform and Business Efficiency – China and Indonesia, Sydney University, 6 July (2007).
  • ‘Learning from each other: Cooperation between national and regional/state governments and legislative drafters in Indonesia and Australia’, Presented at Making of Regional Legislation and the Power of Central Government to Repeal Regional Legislation, Aryaduta Hotel, Jakarta, 24 November (2006).
  • ‘Banishing Judicial Accountability? The Constitutional Court's Decision in the Dispute between the Supreme Court and the Judicial Commission’, Presented at the Indonesia Update, Australian National University, Canberra, 22-23 September (2006).

Associations

  • NAATI accredited Indonesian translator.