Digital Resource Nationalism
Evaluating Indonesia’s Data Sovereignty Legal Framework Through Sumitronomics-Kusumaatmadja Analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.19184/ejlh.v13i1.53716Abstract
Indonesia’s digital economy, projected to reach USD 99 billion in gross merchandise value by 2025 with over 220 million internet users, has intensified the challenge of securing data sovereignty, particularly as foreign digital platforms continue to extract economic value from citizens’ personal data. This paper assesses the adequacy of Indonesia’s digital legal framework through an integrated analytical framework that combines Sumitronomics, an economic philosophy grounded in resource sovereignty and downstream processing with Mochtar Kusumaatmadja’s Legal Development Theory, which conceptualizes law as an instrument of social transformation (sarana pembaharuan masyarakat). Adopting a doctrinal legal methodology, the study employs statutory, conceptual, and comparative approaches to examine three primary legal instruments: the Personal Data Protection Law (Law 27/2022), the Competition Law (Law 5/1999), and the Consumer Protection Law (Law 8/1999). These are evaluated against three criteria: resource sovereignty, developmental orientation, and adaptive responsiveness, with comparative insights drawn from China, India, and Brazil. These findings identify significant structural gaps across the three regimes. The Personal Data Protection Law permits cross-border data transfers without requiring meaningful local processing; the Competition Law does not adequately address data-driven market dominance; and the Consumer Protection Law remains silent on algorithmic manipulation. As a result, the current framework operates largely in a reactive manner, rather than serving as a proactive instrument for developmental governance. The study proposes a set of reforms, including the introduction of tiered local data processing obligations, the recognition of data-driven market power within competition law, the incorporation of algorithmic transparency and collective redress mechanisms in consumer protection, and the establishment of an inter-agency Digital Governance Coordination Council to support more adaptive regulatory oversight.
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