ALSA 2025 meeting

As Southeast Asia continues to face challenges in building inclusive and just legal systems, the need to reconsider the tools used in legal advocacy is becoming increasingly urgent. While legal research in Indonesia has traditionally relied on qualitative and doctrinal approaches, this paper argues that quantitative legal research holds significant yet underutilized potential as a data-driven narrative tool to challenge legal inequality and support policy reform.

This study demonstrates how measurable figures, observable trends, and statistical patterns can strengthen demands for justice. Using a case study of local regulations (Peraturan Daerah) from various regions in Indonesia, the paper examines the presence or absence of non-discrimination clauses intended to protect marginalized groups such as persons with disabilities, Indigenous communities, women, and the poor.

This research also emerges from the concern that law students in Indonesia are mostly exposed to qualitative approaches such as doctrinal, normative, or philosophical methods, while quantitative methods are rarely introduced systematically in classrooms—either conceptually or technically. As a result, many students remain unaware that legal issues can be analyzed statistically, and that numerical data can serve as a powerful instrument to evaluate the effectiveness of legal regulations and their implementation.

Through the coding of data from 30 selected local laws and statistical analysis using SPSS software, this study identifies patterns of exclusion and interprovincial variation, providing concrete evidence that can influence policymakers. The findings show that quantitative data can reinforce legal arguments by offering reliable and compelling evidence, thereby supporting stronger calls for reform. Ultimately, this study highlights the importance of methodological pluralism in legal studies and emphasizes the role of data in promoting justice and inclusivity within Southeast Asian legal systems.