Page 45 - e-KLIPING KETENAGAKERJAAN 30 JANUARI 2020

Title WRONG DIAGNOSIS FOR OMNIBUS LAW
Media Name tempo.co
Pub. Date 29 Januari 2020
Page/URL https://en.tempo.co/read/1301190/wrong-diagnosis-for-omnibus-law
Media Type Pers Online
Sentiment Negative

Jakarta - On January 22, the House of Representatives (DPR) officially approved the
2020 National Priority Legislative Program, including four omnibus laws that will
change the face of this country - once and for all. Without public participation, and
even with an impression of secrecy, these bills are wrong from the outset.

Of these four planned omnibus laws, the job creation bill, the taxation and economic
strengthening bill, the pharmacy bill and the state capital bill, only the contents of
the first have begun to leak to the public.

Public concerns have arisen for two reasons. Firstly, the government has not
involved all the stakeholders who will be impacted by these laws. Secondly, there
are indications that the government wrongly diagnosed the roots of the fundamental
problems that gave rise to the need for them.

The job creation bill is the first and most complex omnibus law. There are 1,244
articles in the 79 laws that will be changed when this legislation is passed at
Senayan. From the deliberation process, a number of crucial questions have arisen
around mining concessions, the use of forest areas, the time period of usage
permits, environmental impact analyses, and labor regulations.

These questions were all sparked by the secretive nature of the deliberations of this
first bill. It is difficult to understand why the government is insisting on keeping the
contents of the omnibus law secret before the document is handed over to the DPR
this week. Rather than easing the passage of this bill, these secretive deliberations
will lead to public doubts, especially since the Economics Ministry has given the
Indonesian Chamber of Commerce the authority to filter all of the regulations that
might cause losses for businesses. When the player becomes the referee, the result
will be fundamentally flawed.

There is nothing wrong with President Joko Widodo's plan to tidy up the regulations
and do away with overlapping ones. But the process of drawing these up must not
only favor a small number of tycoons - who are close to those in power. If this
happens, the economy that is built will be unbalanced and weak because it will be
controlled by cronies and rent-seekers. It is likely the president will be accused of
simply returning favors to the donors that helped him during the last presidential
election campaign.

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