Legal Reform in Asia Institutional Change & Rule of Law in Pakistan, Indonesia and China An Asian Perspectives Program

Legal Reform in Asia:
Institutional Change & Rule of Law in Pakistan, Indonesia and China
An Asian Perspectives Program
November 3 - 7, 2003
Washington DC and New York City

Biographical Information
Ms. Xin, Chunying is a standing member of the Law Committee of the National
People’s Congress. Previously, she was deputy director of the Institute of Law at the
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. She is a leading Chinese legal scholar and has
published widely in both English and Chinese, including The Chinese Legal System
and its Current Reform: The Role of Law and Legal Institutions in China’s Economic
Development, 1978-1995 (1999). She is currently researching judicial reform in
China, and has been involved in legislative drafting or consulting in public law since
the 1980s. She received her law degree from U.C. Berkeley Law School, and has
been a visiting scholar at Harvard Law School and Yale Law School.
Mr. Ibrahim Assegaf is the managing director of PT Justika Siar Publika and owner
and operator of a website in Indonesia devoted to law, www.hukumonline.com. As
Executive Director of the Indonesian Center for Law and Policy Studies (PSHKI), he
led research, advocacy and information-sharing efforts for one of Indonesia’s most
active legal development and policy organizations. PSHKI has played a lead role in
helping to shape the national legal reform agenda through its work on political and
economic laws, corruption, constitutional reform, and regulation of the legal
profession and the legislative drafting process. Hukumonline helps to increase
public access to information on the legal reform process, and includes a news
service featuring national legal developments and issues, discussion forums to
exchange views, and legal clinics for those without access to legal information. In
2001, hukumonline.com launched a database of Indonesian laws, regulations and
court decisions as a free service to legal scholars, civil society organizations and the
public. Ibrahim has a law degree from the University of Indonesia Faculty of Law,
specializing in public international law. He worked for Hadiputranto, Hadinoto &

Partners in Indonesia after completing an internship with Baker McKenzie in Chicago
and Aitken, Irvin, Lewin & Vrooman in Washington DC.
Ms. Shahla Zia is joint director of the Aurat Foundation (AF), a non-government
organization working for women’s empowerment, and a long-time women’s rights
advocate. She is also director of the Legislative Watch Program, which provides
training on the political system, legislative process, women’s rights issues,
advocacy and monitoring. She analyzes the laws and policies relating to women,
and monitors and disseminates information on legislation through a newsletter,
seminars and meetings. Prior to working with AF, Ms. Zia was partner at AGHS Law

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Associates, an all-women’s law firm focusing on women’s legal problems and rights.
She has a law degree from Punjab University Law College in Lahore, Pakistan.

Legal Reform in Asia:
Institutional Change & Rule of Law in Pakistan, Indonesia and China
An Asian Perspectives Program
November 3 - 7, 2003, Washington DC and New York City
Page 2 of 2

Biographical Information

Mr. Erik Jensen is senior advisor for Law Programs to The Asia Foundation and codirector for the Rule of Law Program at Stanford Law School. As a legal practitioner
with 17 years of experience in 10 Asian countries, he has designed and written
extensively about programs in rule of law, civil society development, economic
reform, international relations and governance. Mr. Jensen has been a consultant to
the Asian Development Bank, World Bank and other institutions on law and legal
reform in Asia. Prior to his current position with the Foundation, Mr. Jensen served as

The Asia Foundation’s Representative in Pakistan, Assistant Representative in the
Philippines and the Foundation’s law consultant in Sri Lanka. Mr. Jensen has written
numerous articles and studies on law reform, including an edited volume to be
published in May 2003 entitled Beyond Common Knowledge: Empirical Approaches
to the Rule of Law. Mr. Jensen received his undergraduate degree from Augustana
College and law degrees from William Mitchell College of Law and the London
School of Economics.
Mr. Zacky Husein is Director of Law Programs for The Asia Foundation in
Indonesia. The Indonesia law reform program is the Foundation's largest and most
comprehensive law program. He works on law and counter corruption issues,
including work with legal education institutions, the courts, advocacy groups and
the Supreme Court of Indonesia. Before joining The Asia Foundation in February
2000, he practiced corporate-commercial law for six years with the prestigious
Indonesian law firm of Soewito, Suhardiman, Eddymurthy & Kardono. He also spent
a year as a foreign associate with Mayer, Brown & Platt in Chicago, Illinois. Mr.
Husein has a law degree from the Faculty of Law of the University of Indonesia,
specializing in economic laws, and an LL.M. in Common Law Studies from
Georgetown University Law Center. He also completed a short-term studies
program on the political economy of development at the London School of
Economics.

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