Jakarta, September 9, 2025 – The Head of the Research and Advocacy Division of Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Indonesia, Mouna Wasef, was one of the key speakers at the research dissemination event titled “Strengthening Corruption Prevention Related to Chinese Nickel Mining in Indonesia,” organized by Transparency International Indonesia (TII) in Jakarta. In the forum, Mouna emphasized the crucial role of civil society in ensuring that Indonesia’s extractive industries are governed by principles of transparency, accountability, participation, and justice, particularly as the energy transition accelerates.
According to Mouna, the energy transition toward renewable sources is an essential step for mitigating climate change, but the process actually presents a new paradox. The future of clean energy now heavily depends on the mining industry for critical minerals like nickel, which has long been fraught with social, environmental, and governance issues. She highlighted that the acceleration of exploitation to meet mineral demands often ignores rigorous environmental studies, triggers land conflicts with indigenous and local communities, and opens up space for corrupt practices in licensing processes as well as state revenue management. “Without strong oversight from civil society, the energy transition risks deepening social and environmental injustices,” she said.
In her presentation, Mouna emphasized four key pillars of governance: transparency, accountability, participation, and justice. Transparency encompasses the openness of public data and information, including contracts, permits, and state revenues, as mandated by the Public Information Disclosure Law and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) standards. Accountability requires mechanisms for holding companies and the government responsible, whether through policy advocacy, budget oversight, or legal channels. Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court’s Decision No. 91/PUU-XVIII/2020 emphasizes the importance of meaningful participation, affirming the public’s right to be heard and considered in public decision-making. The final pillar, justice, demands the implementation of the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) principle, independent monitoring of social and environmental impacts, and the involvement of vulnerable groups and women to ensure equitable benefits.
The findings from TII’s research, presented by Gita Ayu Atikah, further reinforced the issues highlighted by Mouna. The study mapped various corruption risks and weak governance across the entire nickel value chain, from mining permits to the construction of processing facilities. Corruption is reportedly rampant in the issuance of mining permits, primarily due to a lack of public transparency and weak oversight. Practices such as bribery, conflicts of interest, and environmental data manipulation were found in smelter projects, while communities around industrial areas like Weda Bay face pollution, land conflicts, and the criminalization of activists who criticize social and environmental impacts.
Gita also highlighted the weakness of independent audits for smelter projects, overlapping authorities between the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) and the Ministry of Industry, as well as the absence of verification for beneficial ownership in the acquisition of mining companies by foreign investors. All of this indicates that the rapid growth of the nickel industry has not been matched by transparent and accountable governance, and it imposes heavy social and ecological burdens on local communities.
Similar views were also expressed by Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat, a researcher from the Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS), who highlighted the prevalence of greenwashing practices in Chinese investment projects in the nickel sector. Based on the report “Behind the Green Curtain: Unpacking Greenwashing in Indonesia’s China-Backed Investments,” Rakhmat revealed that several projects, despite being marketed as environmentally friendly, actually cause ecological damage, violations of local community rights, and pollution from smelter activities and captive coal-fired power plants that supply industrial areas. He assessed that the narrative of “green investment” is often used to cover up extractive practices that damage the environment and ignore principles of transparency and meaningful public consultation. “Without independent oversight and data openness, greenwashing will become the new face of inequality and injustice in the energy transition,” he emphasized.
The dissemination event, attended by representatives from the government, academics, and various civil society organizations, served as an essential space for reflection on the direction of Indonesia’s energy transition. Mouna closed her presentation with a message that the energy transition should not be viewed merely as a technological and investment agenda, but must become a momentum to uphold social justice, environmental protection, and ensure that society becomes the main subject of this change.
Writer: Aulia Sabrini Saragih