As part of the 2-Day Roundtable Program on “Indonesian Customary Laws of War – East Indonesian Update”, held on April 14–15, 2025, continued discussions took place on “Strategic Planning and Research Development” between terAs – Faculty of Law, Universitas Trisakti, the Centre for International Law – NUS, and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Regional Delegation for Indonesia and Timor-Leste. The discussion focused on key aspects such as determining the research scope, objectives, and design; problem identification; selection of research sites; cultural considerations; methodology and ethics; stakeholder engagement; as well as research outcomes, dissemination strategies, and the involvement of the Indonesian government and international organizations.

Dr. Samuel White from the Centre for International Law, NUS presented a session titled “Case Studies from Southeast Asia”, followed by Tamalin Bolus from the ICRC, who delivered a paper titled “Researching Convergencies between IHL, Humanitarian Principles, and Customary Laws, and the Geneva Conventions: Comparative Analysis”. These papers served as guiding frameworks for research focused on updating traditional laws of war formerly practiced in Eastern Indonesia, particularly in the regions of Kalimantan and Sulawesi.

The research initiative will begin with an updated literature review in June 2025, aimed at refining terAs’s previous findings and identifying initial insights into customary laws of war in Eastern Indonesia. The results of the literature review will be presented at an international conference hosted by the National University of Singapore in October 2025. This will be followed by field research in February 2026, leading to transcription in May 2026 and culminating in the drafting of a publication by August 2026. The final output is expected to be published in October 2026 in the form of a book by a reputable international publisher and a scholarly article in a Scopus-indexed international journal.

With this planned trajectory, the Center for the Study of Humanitarian Law and Human Rights (terAs), Faculty of Law, Universitas Trisakti, officially signed a Collaboration Agreement with the Centre for International Law, National University of Singapore (NUS), and the ICRC Regional Delegation for Indonesia and Timor-Leste. As a follow-up to the signing, the parties also signed an Implementation Arrangement for the 2-Day Roundtable Program on “Indonesian Customary Laws of War – East Indonesian Update”, marking the execution of Phase 1 of the international research collaboration.

This collaboration and its associated research activities contribute to achieving IKU & Strategy 4 targets for the Faculty of Law. Furthermore, the partnership with NUS—ranked 8th in the QS World University Rankings and 3rd in the QS Asia University Rankings—advances the Faculty’s achievement of IKU & Strategy 7 related to internationalization. In addition, the involvement of students recruited for the research project, along with research grants provided by NUS, supports the fulfillment of IKU & Strategy 1, 3, and 10. Lastly, the planned research outputs in the form of a book and Scopus-indexed international journal article are expected to fulfill IKU & Strategy 2 targets by October 2026.