Karimun Jawa Island is a promising maritime asset, enriched by abundant water resources in Central Java. However, the allure of this location poses a potential threat to the sustainable ecosystems of marine biota unless prompt government action is taken to safeguard its underwater cultural heritage. This research proposes a comprehensive policy design for legal protection and ecotourism development in Karimun Jawa, balancing economic considerations and environmental preservation. Employing a socio-legal methodology encompassing interviews, observation, and focus group discussions, the study identifies substantial challenges in managing underwater cultural heritage in Karimun Jawa. These challenges encompass over-exploitation, shipwreck theft, damage from trawlers, natural disasters, and plastic pollution. The research underscores the imperative for the government to formulate measures ensuring legal protection on international, national, and regional fronts. At the global level, immediate ratification of the Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage 2001 is recommended. Moreover, effective collaboration among stakeholders—central and regional governments, local communities, and maritime enterprises—is deemed crucial for sustainable, culturally informed policy formulation fostering responsible management, utilization, and protection of this unique marine heritage.

The use of a research approach in legal research will determine the results. There are three categories of approaches in legal research. The normative approach is the most widely used. This research aims to examine how the approach should be implemented in legal research. This research uses a conceptual approach which is still within the scope of the normative approach. Research data was collected by searching articles published in 23 law journals. The results of this research show that the approach to legal research is the use of perspective in discussing legal issues. There are three legal research approaches, namely normative, empirical, and philosophical approaches with all their variants. The normative approach reviews legal problems from a positive law perspective. The empirical approach examines legal problems as a cultural reality. A philosophical approach examines legal problems from an ideal perspective. The approach to legal research should be applied according to the type of research, research data, and level of research. The normative approach is the most widely used. This is because law is mostly understood as a set of rules. Sequentially, of the 256 articles studied, 70% of legal research used a “normative approach”, 19% empirical, and 11% philosophical.

Upon attaining independence in 1957, most judges and lawyers in Malaysia received legal education and legal training in the United Kingdom. University of Malaya was the only premier law school in Malaysia during that time. Gradually, the number of law schools increased and now legal education is available in a number of both private and public universities in Malaysia. The landscape of legal education differ post 2008 when new law schools from public universities were made subject to a review conducted by the Legal Profession Qualifying Board (LPQB) – failure to obtain full recognition will result in students from the universities concerned, having to sit for Certificate in Legal Practice (CLP) examination. In the light of this development, legal education in Malaysia has become under strict scrutiny by the legal fraternity, and thus it is a question of what reasonable expectation should the country set on the legal education provided by universities. This article will address legal education from the point of view of universities, the relevance of the CLP examination and the level of skills and knowledge required to produce ‘practice-ready’ graduates. The discussion also considers the availability of the 9-months pupillage before admission to the Malaysian Bar and other criteria for education as provided for by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA). The whole paper will be based on the Legal Profession Act 1976, the MQA guidelines, the developments of legal education in Malaysia and the experience of laws schools under review by the LPQB and other stakeholders.

Despite the existing exam requirements in a bachelor of law degree, it is claimed that local law graduates are ill-prepared for legal practice, lack of fluency in English, particularly in writing and speaking skills. This paper explores efforts made by the law schools in Malaysia within their existing curriculum to prepare students for future legal practice careers and to cater to the needs of the legal industry. The requirement of a recognized law degree has been fulfilled by most law schools, and students studying in law schools without recognition by the Legal Profession Qualifying Board (LPQB) would have to sit for Certificate of Legal Practice (CLP) to qualify as a practitioner. Nevertheless, the Bar Council has been proposing for additional curriculum of Common Bar Course and Common Bar Exam. It is claimed that these additional stage of common bar course and exam would be beneficial for candidates alongside their somewhat “inefficient” bachelor of law degree. Sitting for this bar exam would allow candidates to qualify as “qualified person” under the law. Nevertheless, this paper holds on to the view that training in chambers or the pupillage period, would be the best place platform for law graduates to equip themselves with hands-on experience in legal practice, and that the “higher-standard” of paper-based exams proposed by the Bar would be futile in keeping up with the expectations of the legal industry for “practice-ready” candidates.

This paper focuses on the utilization of sea mineral resources in areas within national jurisdiction and in the international seabed area (hereafter known as the Area). It discusses Indonesian laws relevant to seabed mining and the need for such laws to take into consideration the maritime zones and activities in the Area, as stipulated by UNCLOS 1982. This paper begins with the identification of potential sea minerals both within national jurisdiction and in the Area. Next, it analyzes the international legal framework on seabed mining, including a discussion on the meaning of "legitimate interests of coastal States" and on the participation of developing states in the Area, as stipulated in Article 142 and 148 of UNCLOS 1982. Then, the national legal framework relating to seabed mining is discussed. Using the juridical-normative method, this paper finds that Indonesia does not currently have comprehensive national regulations covering seabed mining within its jurisdiction and in the Area. Although there is a presidential decree on the exploitation of sea sand, it is limited to institutional arrangements and only focuses on sea sand. Thus, this paper recommends the formulation of national regulations regarding the use of the seabed, both within and beyond national jurisdiction.

On Jan 22, 1878, an agreement was signed between the Sultan of Sulu with two British agents, Alfred Dent, and Baron von Overbeck, ceding North Borneo to the British in return for the payment of cession money of 5,000 Malayan dollars annually to the Sultan. The payment was increased to 5,300 dollars per year when nearby islands from Banggi Island to Sibuku Bay were also ceded. Sabah was briefly placed under Japanese rule during World War II and later reverted back to British rule upon Japanese surrender in 1945. Sabah remained a British crown colony until it gained independence within Malaysia in 1963. As a component state of the Federation, Malaysia has invested billions of Ringgit to develop Sabah, establishing a working government to administer this territory. The heirs of the forgone Sulu Sultanate have not done much to display that they are in fact the sovereign rulers of Sabah. This article discusses on the recent issue pertaining to the ‘Sulu state arbitration’ requesting Malaysia to pay compensation to the heirs of the Sulu Sultanate for exercising sovereignty over Sabah from the purview of international law and state sovereignty. The heirs of the defunct Sulu Sultanate are adamant that Sabah is still ‘part of their territory’. This article concludes that Sabah is recognized globally as part of Malaysia, in no way Malaysia is obliged to entertain claims of descendants of a long-lost sovereign. As a full member of the United Nations, Malaysia is an independent sovereign state and its sovereignty over Sabah must be respected.

The Straits of Malacca and Singapore are two of the world’s most crucial maritime highways. Srivijaya and the Malacca Sultanate were among the regional formidable political entities that were successful in exerting their power and influence over the Straits. The pre-eminence of the local kingdoms were overshadowed by the arrival of the European imperialists as early as the 16th century, that changed the political dynamics in the region. The Straits of Malacca and Singapore remain important till today as it provides the shortest route linking petroleum producing-nations of West Asia and the oil consumers of East Asia. As such, the significance of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore global fulcrum of maritime trade is indisputable. Nevertheless, despite being the caretaker of these important Straits, Malaysia and Indonesia have a long way to go before they could be regarded as influential maritime States. This article concludes that both Malaysia and Indonesia should develop its oceans policy to go hand in hand with the global significance of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore. This has to be done in ensuring that both Malaysia and Indonesia could relive the glorious moments once enjoyed by both its predecessors – Srivijaya and Malacca.