This article addresses the dilemmas and compromises in legal practice around the issue of child marriage in Indonesia. Although the government set development goals that include ending child marriage and complying with human rights standard, it is facing considerable resistance. We researched the state legal system and law in practice to understand this resistance, finding that: (1) law-making in family law involves conflict between progressive and conservative ideas; (2) consequently there is friction within current family law and laws regarding human rights; (3) judges use their discretion to achieve compromises between state laws and local norms; and (4) state law is creatively interpreted and applied at village level. The resistance at all these levels, arising from the religious concerns of conservative Muslims in a rapidly modernizing Indonesian society, is a formidable obstacle for the government to achieve its development goals. Adolescent sexuality is at the heart of these tensions.

The indigenous and Fourth World communities in multiple Asian regions are again making noises. As the incoming ALSA president, I wish to offer a new perspective called the Fourth World Approaches to International Law (FWAIL) to understand the nature of pandemic indigenous people’s struggles for independence in Asia, to examine sociopolitical and historical roots of regional conflicts around many Asian peripheries, and to explore the contour of the social and political path for the recognition of indigenous rights for political sovereignty and independence under international law. Further, FWAIL is offered to give an active voice to indigenous people who have been victimized by predatory policies of the state system and international law, and to build a culture of collective resistance and opposition to hegemonic Western domination in the region. FWAIL also provides the framework to seek self-determination through activism, organizing, and negotiations with the state, in addition to the use of domestic law and international law. Furthermore, FWAIL is offered to give an alternative vision for the preservation of biodiversity and natural environment necessary for the survival of the human race in the coming generations in Asia.