Southeast Asian Courts: "To Be Free, or Not to Be?"

I have been reading Dr. Maung Maung's book Burma's Constitution, which focuses on Burma's activist Supreme Court during the late 1940s and 1950s. It reminded me of an odd trend in Southeast Asia: courts in democracies tend to exercise strong judicial review and promote progressive constitutional norms, whereas courts in authoritarian regimes rarely challenge the executive.

At first glance, this might seem obvious. So why is this so surprising?

Literature Review: Indonesia's Constitutional Rights: Strong or Conditional?

Citation: Simon Butt, Conditional Constitutionality, Pragmatism, and the Rule of Law, Sydney Law School Research Paper No. 09/28 (May 2008)


Philippa Venning, Determination of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights by the Indonesian Constitutional Court, 10 Australian J. Asian L. 100 (2008)

How has Indonesia's Constitutional Court, the Mahkamah Konstitusi (MK), balanced constitutional rights with the country's other economic and social goals? Simon Butt of Sydney Law School and Philippa Venning of AusAID propose two ways of understanding the MK's approach to constitutional interpretation.