Merdeka.com – Indonesia’s Advocacy and Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Network Manager, Aryanto Nugroho, has criticized the planned relaxation of exports of raw or concentrated mines until 2021. According to him, this regulation triggers the rate of exploitation of natural resources on a large scale. He was worried, if this condition continued to be left, it would damage the Indonesian environment.

Aryanto gave an example, in East Kalimantan there were around 3000 mined pits which had claimed up to 25 lives, most of them children of the nation’s future generations.

“This is what we are worried about from the potential relaxation of mineral exports. Accelerating the destructive force of the environment, the environment, safety standards, has led to increasingly humanitarian tragedies and exploitation, “he said at the WALHI office, Jakarta, Tuesday (11/10).

Besides the relaxation of exports provided by the government is considered increasingly giving uncertainty in investment. Instead of carrying out the moratorium’s promise, relaxation of exports also creates injustice for some economic actors who have built processing facilities.

“This situation is certainly increasingly leading to legal and regulatory uncertainty in trying and can provoke further demands,” he said.

As information, in 2017, all concentrates and minerals that are exported from within the country must go through a refining process first. If not, mining companies will no longer be allowed to export concentrates.

However, the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs, Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, plans to relax the rules. He plans to revise the Minerba Law to re-grant the extension of concentrate export licenses to companies that have not yet completed the smelter.

In Media, Media Coverage | PWYP Indonesia | October 12nd, 2016