Globalisasi Ekonomi Dan Perubahan Hukum: Studi Mengenai Penghapusan Poenale Sanctie Di Sumatera Timur (1870-1950)

Abstract

The colonial government had enacted poenale sanctie for the Dutch capitalist who wanted to invest in East Sumatera, the arable land but lack of labor. The statute had penal sanction under labor contract, guaranteed sufficient workers, making production cost as low as possible due to the cheap wages, so that the product of the plantation could compete in the international market. However under this statute, the worker had to live in bad condition. The planters treat their worker inhuman like a slave. The colonial government tried to improve the situation by changing the regulation several times, but still in favor to the Planters for the benefit of the colonial government. The colonial government ignored the protests that came from the nationalist movement and the nationalist journalist. Those who are endangering poenale sanctie will be imprisoned or banished to Boven Digoel. Poenale sanctie also became one of the subject in the ILO conference in Geneve. Poenale sanctie had also became the subject of the debates in Volksraad and Tweede Kamer. All the protest and criticts could not forced the Dutch to abolish poenale sanctie immediately in East Sumatera because the plantation insist on the assurance of labor supply. However· when the American Senate demand for the prohibiton of the poenale sanctie, the Dutch government and the Planters take it more seriously, unless they will lose 50% of the Deli tobacco market in America. Poenale sanctie, make the Deli tobacco cheaper than the American tobacco in domestic market of the country. In order to maintain the Deli tobacco market in America, finally poenale sanctie was revoked. This research was about the poenale sanctie in East Sumatera 1880-1931, proved that the law was not only based on morality elements such as fairness and humanity, but also much more depend on the politics and economy factors. Politics and economic factors are much more determinant on law as shown in the poenale sanctie case. This also happened when the law did not supported by economy and political power, as it has seen in several law which were in favor of labor, enacted after the Indonesia independence. The instability of Indonesia economy and politics at that time made the law became a merely symbolic law. Protests and labor strikes happened continously caused the plantation some loses, at the end it could forced the Planters to increase the worker wages, even if it did not meet the subsistance need.