Merdeka.com – PWYP Indonesia Advocacy and Network Manager Aryanto Nugroho said, so far, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) claims that the downstream policy is one of the successes of work in the Jokowi-JK administration.
He considered that the policy was not a success but a government failure because downstream is against the Coal and Mineral Law.
“The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, especially Minerba, has always said that one of the mineral sector’s achievements is the downstream policy package. However, civil society groups are not an achievement but a failure in carrying out the mandate of Article 103 of the Coal and Mineral Law. So we have a different view with the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources,” he said in a discussion in the Menteng area, Central Jakarta, Friday (22/12).
He continued; this failure was also seen when civilian groups filed a lawsuit to the Supreme Court regarding this matter. Despite losing the lawsuit, some things are quite impressive.
Where when two out of three judges stated that the Permen did not conflict with the Coal and Mineral Law. Thus, he considered that this policy should not be implemented.
“Two judges said their legal standing was problematic, but one and one judges believed that the legal standing of civilian groups was accepted. Furthermore, the judge stated that Ministerial Regulation 5 and 6 contradicts the Coal and Mineral Law. So if these two judges do not see the substance of the lawsuit, this one judge states that this legal standing is accepted and this regulation is against the Coal and Mineral Law,” he explained.
To note, the downstream of Coal and Mineral is a direction from President Jokowi. There are several directions regarding downstream, including first, all-natural wealth must be utilized maximally for the community’s welfare.
Second, state revenues from the mineral sector must be considered. Third, we have to consider employment opportunities for the community in the hope that there will be no downstream that will close jobs. [azz]