Central and Regional Govts to Share Responsibilities

KOMPAS/TOTOK WIJAYANTO

Workers hold up posters at a rally near the House of Representatives in Senayan, Jakarta, on Wednesday (12/2/2020). The protesters are opposed to the omnibus bill on job creation, which they claim will sacrifice workers’ welfare for the sake of investment. They say the bill threatens their rights and welfare by excluding detailed provisions on minimum wages and the hourly wage system, eliminating severance pay, reducing work hours and altering the labor system.

The government aims to improve the sharing of responsibilities between central government and regional administrations through the omnibus bill on job creation, including with regard to the authority to issue Environmental Impact Analysis (Amdal) permits.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The government aims to standardize the formulation of environmental permits and impact analysis permits, including norms, procedures and criteria, through the omnibus bill on job creation.

“Environmental permits and Amdal will be managed by the central government, which will establish standards to simplify the process,” Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto said in Jakarta on Friday (21/2/2020).

Under the omnibus bill, companies submitting Amdal for low-risk business activities are only required to state that they will fulfill all requirements. They will not be required to submit Amdal documents if the industrial area already has an Amdal and the type of business is in line with the industrial area’s intended purpose.

The nine criteria for Amdal submission stipulated in Article 23 of Law No. 32/2009 on environmental management and protection will be simplified to only one criterion through the omnibus bill on job creation. Moreover, the environmental permit is eliminated and replaced by a business permit, as stipulated in Article 23 Point 4 of the omnibus bill.

Airlangga said he acknowledged the new environmental stipulations were sensitive. Therefore, the government would formulate them prudently and in line with prevailing laws, including for the steel, textile waste and palm oil industries. A standardized formulation for environmental and Amdal permits was required to create certainty. “The problem is that standards between industries are not in harmony. These standards must be fixed and clarified,” he explained.

KOMPAS/ALIF ICHWAN

Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto (center), accompanied by House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker Puan Maharani (second right), meets the press after a closed-door meeting on Wednesday (12/2/2020) at the House complex in Senayan, Jakarta. Accompanied by Agrarian and Spatial Planning Minister Sofyan Djalil, Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly, Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya, Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and DPR Deputy Speakers Azis Syamsuddin and Rachmat Gobel, the pair presented the presidential letter on the omnibus bill on job creation, which was delivered to the House on Feb. 12 and consists of 79 laws, 15 chapters and 174 articles.

Presidential expert for legal affairs Dini Purwono said Amdal permits should be issued more selectively in the future. The permits should be issued based on various considerations, especially risks. Amdal permits were required only for high-risk businesses, including those dealing with hazardous materials. For low-risk businesses, there were concerns that an Amdal requirement was too much of a burden.

“Businesspeople in non-hazardous industries are required to process Amdal permits that may cost them hundreds of millions of rupiah. This is exacerbated by the lack of monitoring. Therefore, monitoring and periodical evaluation are more important,” Dini said.

Environment and Forestry Ministry secretary-general Bambang Hendroyono said in a press statement on Friday that the omnibus bill on job creation was the government’s attempt to simplify regulations with the ultimate goal to achieve public welfare. This would at the same time provide certainty in environmental law enforcement.

“Industry does not only comprise big private companies. People managing social forests are also a part of that. Environmental law enforcement is not eliminated, but instead made clear and transparent. It is false that the omnibus bill neglects environmental principles and is pro-big businesses. It is just the opposite, the omnibus bill strongly supports small businesses,” Bambang explained.

Micro, small and medium enterprises with activities near forests would be able to work without neglecting environmental protection principles as legal punishments for environmental destruction are still intact.

“Through the omnibus bill, [businesses focusing on] social forests and lands objected to agrarian reform [TORA] will flourish. Micro, small and medium enterprises with activities near forests would be able to work without neglecting environmental protection principles as legal punishments for environmental destruction are still intact,” he continued.

The Environment and Forestry Ministry has an interest in the omnibus bill’s deliberation, especially with regard to articles related to Law No. 41/1999 on forestry, Law No. 32/2009 on environmental management and protection and Law No. 18/2013 on deforestation prevention and eradication.

Conflicting rules

Bogor Agricultural Institute (IPB) forestry professor Hariadi Kartodihardjo said articles in the omnibus bill on job creation sidelined environmental preservation principles and could lead to imbalances in natural resources management. “It is those articles that are problematic. If there is a difference between what the government wants to achieve and what is written [in the bill], then something is wrong,” he said.

Hariadi and a research team from the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL) found articles in the omnibus bill that may sideline the environment and potentially widen the forest product use inequity. For instance, Articles 27 and 29 of the Forestry Law, which regulate individual and cooperatives’ rights in obtaining area use permits and forest product use permits, are revoked by the omnibus bill.

The omnibus bill only regulates business permits for state-owned, region-owned and private companies. Hariadi said this will close access for local and customary communities to their forests.

“The omnibus bill on job creation will not speed up permit issuance for local and customary communities currently served with the social forestry program. On the contrary, it will close their access to all social forestry permits,” Hariadi said.

Sajogyo Institute researcher Eko Cahyono claimed the omnibus bill neglected issues of imbalance and structural socio-ecology crisis.

Eko said the draft law may widen socioeconomic gaps. One example was the ban on burning down forests for agricultural purposes by customary communities. There was a pro-big business bias, including limiting access for local and customary communities to their forests through the exclusive recognition of business permits for state-owned, region-owned and private companies.

KOMPAS/PRIYOMBODO

Female workers check products at an electronics assembly plant in Bogor regency, West Java, Thursday (10/10/2019).

Dissemination

To end the heated debate about the omnibus bill on job creation, Dini said, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo had requested that all relevant ministries disseminate information on the omnibus bill to the public. The Office of the Coordinating Economic Minister has created a plan to travel to regions for this purpose.

“We have held a meeting with the President, the Coordinating Economic Minister and other relevant agencies for a roadshow to several cities around Indonesia,” she said.

A team at the Office of the Coordinating Economic Minister will explain the omnibus bill in detail to regional administrations, including its goals and article formulation. Afterward, the regional administrations will disseminate the omnibus bill to their people.

The government will also hold discussions with academicians and representatives of various civil society groups regarding articles of the omnibus bill. Most importantly, the people must understand that the omnibus bill is aimed at creating jobs. (KRN/AIK/NTA/TAN)