Jakarta – Indonesian Civil Society Coalition Publish What You Pay (PWYP), urged President Joko Widodo and Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), Ignasius Jonan, to cancel the relaxation policy of exporting raw minerals and concentrates.

President Jokowi must revoke Government Regulation Number 1 of 2017 concerning the Fourth Amendment to Government Regulation Number 23 of 2010 concerning Implementation of Mineral and Coal Mining Business Activities. Including also instructing the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources to revoke Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Regulation No. 5 of 2017 concerning Increasing Mineral Value Added through Domestic Mineral Processing and Refining Activities and ESDM Ministerial Regulation Number 6 of 2017 concerning Procedures for the Requirement of Providing Recommendations for the Implementation of Mineral Processing Abroad Purification.

The three regulations issued on January 11, 2017, provide a way for the government to grant licenses to export nickel and bauxite that have not been refined or low-grade, namely nickel content below 1.7 percent and bauxite that has been leached.

Furthermore, this regulation provides an opportunity to change the status of a mining company from a Work Contract to a Mining Business License (IUP) and Special IUP (IUPK), without going through the process stipulated by Law Number 4 of 2009 concerning Mineral and Coal Mining. In addition, this regulation also provides leeway for IUPK to export concentrates for the next five years.

“The government has openly issued policies that contradict the mandate of the Minerba Act Article 102 and 103 which require mining companies to process and refine domestic mining products. At the same time it contradicts article 170 which requires all KK holders who have been producing to purify no later than five years after the Minerba Act was enacted in 2009, “said PWYP Indonesia’s National Coordinator, Maryati Abdullah, in a written statement in Jakarta, Tuesday (1/17) ).

Maryati asserted, the government also clearly did not submit to the Constitutional Court Decision Number 10 / PUU-XII / 2014 which strengthened the domestic processing and refining obligations and stated that the spirit of the Minerba Law was in line with Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution because this obligation directly or indirectly provides the maximum benefit for the prosperity of the people. The provision of relaxation of concentrate exports over the next five years, makes a total of 13 years of time given to mining entrepreneurs to build downstream industries since the Minerba Act was passed.

PWYP’s Advocacy Manager, Aryanto Nugroho, added, despite the Government’s minimum restrictions on processing and refining results, as well as requiring provisions for the processing of export licenses such as the obligation to build a smelter.

This has actually been done before, only, the fact since 2014 there has been no significant development, because the government continues to make easing. From around 6,541 Mineral IUPs, of which 4,019 are Production Operations IUPs, only 26 smelters are ready to operate.

“We suspect that this is an attempt to wash the government’s hands over the government’s failure to carry out the mandate of the Minerba Act, specifically related to downstreaming,” he said.

Source: here.

In Media, Media Coverage|PWYP Indonesia|January 20th, 2017