Indonesia doesn’t have an integrated National Youth Policy. The only law that specifically aims to empower youth is the Law No. 40/2009, which is taken by the government as the reference when discussing youth. [...] The language in the law is vague and it overlaps with other legal instruments such as the Children Law or the Law on Children’s Welfare. The law is built upon assumptions. An evidence-based identification of youth needs and concerns is required. The youth law is not integrated with other policies that have connections to youth under different ministries. The youth policy entails synchronization with existing regulations with support from cross- sectoral cooperation. The youth policy should be focused on pursuing a real involve­ment of youth in government, private sector and civil society initiatives and programmes.

An integrated youth policy in Indonesia did not exist. There were eight policies related to youth and each had its own definition of “youth”. Only Law No. 40 of 2009 on Youth had specifically defined the criteria of being a youth. All the policies intersected and even overlapped in trying to target youth problems. [...] The fragmenta­tion of youth-related policies resulted in unintegrated distribu­tion of funding for programs and they often overlapped between one ministry and another. [...] The existing youth policies, especially National Youth Law, did not repre­sent the needs and problems of today’s youth. [...] The state had not viewed youth as a diverse group with specific needs and problems.

The Government will undertake the following efforts in developing its juvenile justice system: (a) expedite the revision of Law No. 3 of 1997 regarding Juvenile Justice System to focus on raising the mini­mum age of a person who can be held legally accoun­table before law, from the current 8 years old to 12 years old, and adopt a restorative justice system for children in conflict with the law [...]