THE INFLUENCE OF DUTCH COLONIAL LEGAL POLICY ON CUSTOMARY LAW AND ISLAMIC LAW IN INDONESIA

Abstract

The Dutch colonial period, spanning nearly three and a half centuries, fundamentally shaped Indonesia's legal landscape by imposing a secular legal system derived from European, particularly Dutch, law. This study examines how Dutch colonial legal policy created conflict between Customary Law (Hukum Adat) and Islamic Law (Hukum Islam) in Indonesia, the major legal theories applied during the colonial era, and the influence of those theories on Indonesian legal development. Using a normative juridical research approach, this study analyzes primary and secondary legal sources, including colonial legislation, judicial decisions, and academic literature. The findings reveal that the colonial administration deliberately deployed the Receptie Theory, advanced by Van Vollenhoven and Snouck Hurgronje, to subordinate Islamic Law to Customary Law, undermining the pre-colonial harmony between the two systems. This "split bamboo" strategy (teori belah bambu) was a calculated divide-and-rule policy. The study concludes that although colonial intervention severely disrupted Islamic Law, post-independence Indonesian scholars, particularly Hazairin, successfully rebutted the Receptie Theory and reasserted the primacy of Islamic Law through the Receptio a Contrario theory.