“If it remains problematic, the government recommends the governor to revoke the mining permits.”

The Anti Mafia Mining Coalition urges the government to revoke the problematic Mining Business Permit (IUP). They call it Non-Clean and Clear (Non-C&C). This demand is addressed to the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Sudirman Said by referring to Article 152 of Law Number 4 of 2009 concerning Mineral and Coal Mining (Minerba).

Although Ministerial Regulation No. 43 Year 2015 delegates the authority to evaluate and control IUP to the governor, the Minerba Law states that the Minister of Energy can suspend or revoke IUP. “We urge the Minister of Energy to take firm action against problematic IUPs,” said Wiko Saputra, PWYP Indonesia Researcher, Jakarta, Tuesday, May 10, 2016.

The Coalition also demanded the regional government, in this case, 31 governors, to crack down on problematic IUPs no later than May 12, 2016. Then, the government is charging all unpaid company financial obligations. Most importantly, they hope that the government will focus on IUPs that are included in conservation and protection forest areas.

This demand arose after the Coordinator of the Supervision of the Corruption Eradication Commission (Korsup KPK) in the mineral and coal sector reported that there were 3,982 problematic IUPs that had not yet been regulated. Then, 6.3 million hectares of mining permits are in conservation forests (1.37 million hectares) and protected forests (4.93 million hectares). (Read: Government and KPK Complete Thousands of Troubled Mining Permits).

Until now, there are company arrears of around Rp 25 trillion as uncollectible state receivables in non-tax state revenue (PNBP). Of this amount, Rp. 7 trillion came from the IUP and Rp. 18 trillion from the Work Contracts and Coal Mining Work Agreement (PKP2B).

Then, as much as 75 percent of IUPs do not pay the reclamation and post-mining obligations. “This year, 24 victims were found in East Kalimantan due to a mine pit that was not reclaimed,” said Syahrul Fitra, Coalition member from Auriga Nusantara. Then, 1,087 NPWP IUPs were not identified. This means that there are thousands of IUPs that do not pay their taxes.

Therefore, according to Hendrik Siregar from JATAM, President Joko Widodo’s discourse on a mining moratorium needs to be appreciated. However, these regulations should not only stop the opening of new land for mining businesses. “The mining moratorium must be synchronized with the IUP arrangement,” he said. The government was asked not to discriminate between the arrangement of IUP, KK, and PKP2B. (Read: Government Expects 3,966 Troubled Mining Permits May 2016).

The Coalition also appealed to the public to participate in monitoring the problematic IUPs and report them to the local government. For example in Jambi, the local government has revoked 98 problematic IUPs. However, a number of companies that hold the IUP in order are still operating. Therefore, local governments must open access to information related to mining data.

Meanwhile, Head of the Communication Center for the Ministry of Energy Sudjatmiko said that he was still waiting for the results of the governors’ evaluation. “Based on the evaluation results, steps will be taken, namely announcing the status of the C&C to IUP members. If it remains problematic, the government recommends the governor to revoke the IUP, “he told to Katadata.

Source: here.