SPI Urges Cessation of Job Creation Bill Debate

KOMPAS/P RADITYA MAHENDRA YASA

A farm worker fertilizes a ricefield on Tuesday (3/3/2020) in Kumpulrejo village of Kaliwungu district, Kendal regency, Central Java.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Apart from the labor cluster, the Indonesian Farmers Union has also urged the House of Representatives to discontinue the discussion on the other 10 clusters in the Omnibus Bill on Job Creation. A number of provisions were seen as a threat to farmers and people working in rural areas.

General Chairman of the Indonesian Farmers Union (SPI), Henry Saragih, said on Sunday (26/4/2020) that the SPI appreciated the move taken by President Joko Widodo to suspend the discussion on the labor cluster of the Job Creation Bill. However, the SPI hoped the government would adopt a firmer policy by ceasing the debate about all clusters of the Job Creation Bill.

The suspension of the labor cluster deliberation was announced by President Joko Widodo at Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, on Friday (24/4/2020). The measure was intended to allow the opportunity for all stakeholders to delve into the substance of articles on labor affairs (Kompas, 25/4/2020).

The cluster of investment facilities even deals with food imports with the risk of making farmers’ life more difficult.

According to Henry, the debate about the Job Creation Bill is no longer relevant after the discussion on the labor cluster, which is the essence of the omnibus bill, is discontinued. “After the suspension of the labor cluster, deliberating the remaining clusters is just unrelated to the creation of job opportunities in Indonesia,” he said.

The SPI has stated its rejection of the Job Creation Bill covering 11 clusters and 1,244 articles because it is opposed to the implementation of agrarian reform, food sovereignty and threatens the development of agriculture, rural areas and the upholding of farmers’ basic rights in Indonesia. The cluster of investment facilities even deals with food imports with the risk of making farmers’ life more difficult.

Also read : A Look at the Job Creation Bill

KOMPAS/ALIF ICHWAN

Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah (third right) poses for a photograph with participants before opening the Coordination Meeting of the Heads of the Provincial Manpower Offices in Indonesia. The meeting discussed the job creation bill in Jakarta on Thursday (20/2/2020).

Agrarian reform

The essence of the Job Creation Bill in the field of land affairs, in Henry’s view, constitutes a replication of the Land Affairs Bill whose endorsement was deferred in September 2019. Therefore, the SPI regards the contents of the Job Creation Bill in the land affairs sector as bearing the same problem as that of the Land Affairs Bill, with the presence of provisions running counter to the principles of justice as stipulated in Law No.5/1960 on Basic Agrarian Guidelines (UUPA 1960).

The concept of the land bank in the Job Creation Bill is contrary to the message of UUPA 1960. Among its implications is that the land bank serves merely as a commodity. This is the opposite of the UUPA-1960 message that land should have the significance of its social function.

Also read : President Calls for Public Input on Omnibus Bill

The SPI also spotlighted the management right (HPL) in Article 127 paragraph (2) of the Job Creation Bill. This article was seen having the potential to reduce the role of the state in land control. “The provision on the HPL in Job Creation Bill has a bias in interests, by facilitating investments in the land sector while ignoring the potential for disparity in land control and ownership in Indonesia,” he noted.

As indicated by Henry, the Job Creation Bill’s partiality for investments and corporate interests can be noticed in the granting of land rights, such as the management right, leasehold, the building right and the land use right for a period of 90 years.

“In fact, by referring to the decision of the Constitutional Court concerning the judicial review of the Investment Law, the granting of a period of 90 years in the sphere of land rights is unconstitutional because it is considered in opposition to the 1945 Constitution and UUPA 1960,” he said.

Likewise, the SPI questioned the exclusion of estate corporate responsibility to communities living around plantations. The Job Creation Bill has the implication for the omission of Article 58 paragraph (1) of Law No.39/2014 on Plantations which originally stipulates the obligation of estate companies to facilitate the development of nearby communities’ plantations at least covering 20 percent of the total estate area under exploitation.

Also read : Regional Administrations Want More Involvement in Omnibus Bill Deliberation

“This will even further perpetuate the discrepant structure of land ownership and land control, which has up to the present still dominated by corporations, especially estate corporations,” he pointed out.

KOMPAS/TOTOK WIJAYANTO

Labor activists hold banners ahead of a protest on Wednesday (12/2/2020) at the House of Representatives in Senayan, Jakarta. The protesters objected to the omnibus bill on job creation, which they claimed would sacrifice workers’ welfare for the sake of investment.

Business certainty

Besides the SPI, several organizations have also rejected any further discussion on the Job Creation Bill. Previously, Central Board General Chairman of the Ansor Youth Movement, Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, requested the DPR to put off its debate about the bill unconnected to the Covid-19 pandemic. The DPR was urged to seriously guard the government’s pandemic control and precautionary action (Kompas, 25/4/2020).

Meanwhile, Secretary General of the All Indonesia Workers Organization, Timboel Siregar, highlighted the presence of some problematic provisions outside the labor cluster. He hoped the government would not only suspend the labor cluster deliberation but also review the other questionable articles.

Earlier, Head of the Investment Coordinating Agency (BKPM), Bahlil Lahadalia, said of the 79 laws and 1,244 articles already revised into the Job Creation Bill, 700 revised articles belonged to the domain of the BKPM. The provisions among others concerned business facilities, micro-, small- and medium-scale enterprises and the online single submission licensing (OSS).

To achieve the high target, structural economic transformation is required.

The Job Creation Bill was created among others by considering the past performance of investments that had been marked by neglected investments worth Rp708 trillion. The negligence resulted from overlapping regulations, sectorial egos emerging between ministries, governors and regents/mayors (Kompas, 6/3/2020).

Economic Coordinating Minister Airlangga Hartarto stated that in order to increase economic growth to 6 percent according to the target of the medium-term national development plan, Rp1,200 trillion worth of investments of 7 percent of the total gross domestic product is needed.

“To achieve the high target, structural economic transformation is required. If the target is to be achieved by the normal channel, without the omnibus law, the transformation can only occur within 10 years,” he said.