Universitas Pelita Harapan: Asia Cup 2007...

Some of my fondest memories of Indonesia relate to coaching moot court teams. I had the great fortune of working with the students from Universitas Pelita Harapan (Pelita Harapan University / UPH) from 2007 through 2009. The students that I worked with were one of the most dedicated groups that I have had the pleasure of working with. They were not only keen to learn, but they were keen to get better, and they were prepared to put in the hard yards to achieve those goals.

The first time I worked with the UPH students was in preparation for the Asia Cup Law Moot competition that is organised by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is by invitation only. The competition was held in Tokyo. The team worked hard to get to Japan. The effort included a weekend of seclusion / retreat at Kota Bunga (Puncak) that was designed to allow total focus on the task at hand, writing memorials. However, as these photos suggest, there was also time for a little relaxation as well.

My thanks to all the team members and their very dedicated team advisor (Pricilla, James, Johan, Nenda, Sunny, and Levin, and of course Michelle).

University of Indonesia and Jessup 2008

The University of Indonesia (UI) and their participation in the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Competition for 2008 was a revelation in a number of truly positive ways. I have been on the record before saying that I did not think that this was the best team that UI had produced. I had even said I would be surprised if they would do as well as some other UI teams of the past.

The Jessup competition is the most prestigious law moot competition in the world. To do well in the competition takes an incredible amount of drive and determination mixed with a will to win and desire to be the best that you can be in international law and legal practice.

I am glad to say I must not only eat a little humble pie but must gobble down quite a lot of it!

The team won the National Rounds back in February 2008 and thereby earned the right to represent Indonesian in the International Round in April 2008 in Washington DC. The National Rounds were particularly close this year and looking forward this means that future representatives from Indonesia can expect to do well at the international round.

Indonesia was coming off a year, 2007, where it had not done so well in terms of team performance but had managed to claim the best oralist in the world trophy through the efforts of Hanna Azkiya. This year my hopes were even less and fortunately were proved to be unfounded.

The UI team had two oralists in the top 30 of the world this year; Rivana Mezaya at No. 3 and Edwina Utamidewi at No. 31. Both excellent achievements. This was an achievement in and of itself, but even more impressive than this was the fact that UI emerged from the preliminary rounds as the 3rd best team in the world.

Unfortunately, the UI team was knocked out in the Octo-final round by the University of Auckland out of New Zealand. However, this is still an excellent result and something very positive to build on into the future. It is only a matter of time now before UI raises the Cup in victory as the Overall Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Competition Champions -- maybe 2009 is that year!