Civil society coalition for constitution defense has registered the judicial review of the domestic mineral processing and refining policy along with the mineral export easing policy to the Supreme Court on last 30 March 2017. The judicial review is based on the alleged inconsistency and maladministration in the mining activity through the issuance of Government Regulation no 1/2007 and the Ministerial Regulation no 5/2017 and Ministerial Regulation no 6/2017. By this lawsuit, the government is expected to give legal certainty based on the right legal implementation.

The coalition’s spoke person, Ahmad Redi, said that those three regulations are both formal and material defects, because the drafting process does not fit with the standard procedure regulated by the Law no 12/2011 on the Formation of Regulation Legislation, and materially contrary with the Mining Law and The Constitutional Court Decision no 10/PUU-VII/2014 on the Obligation for Domestic Processing and Refining of Mining Commodity.

The drafting process of those regulations should follow several steps, such as the synchronization among ministries. For instance, Ministry of Law and Human Rights, Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Ministry of Industry, and etc. Public consultation also need to be held. There is allegation that the drafting process of these three regulation does not follow the procedure, because the Ministerial Regulations issued at the same time when the Governmental Regulation issued.

The Executive Director of Law and Mining Central Studies (PUSHEP), also the attorney for the coalition, Bisman Bhaktiar said that the legal uncertainty caused unfairness for mineral-mining entities that have followed the mandate from Mining Law. “These derivative regulations of Mining Law have blurred the main purpose of 1945 Constitution which underlined that natural resources should be utilized for people welfare,” said him.

Maryati Abdullah, National Coordinator of PWYP Indonesia, highlighted the economic aspect of mining activity. “By 2016, there are 67 bauxite smelters, 5 iron smelters, 2 mangan smelters, 11 zircon smelters, 4 lead and zinc, 4 Caolin & Zeolit smelters”, said Maryati. The inconsistent policy in smelter development certainly disadvantages the companies who have built smelters, added her.

Besides that, Maryati elaborated the economic multiplier effect of smelter for the local. She quoted the result of LPEM UI research, smelter brings greater job opportunities. Case study in West Kalimantan, without smelters, 10 mining workers provide job opportunity for 14 people in West Kalimantan. While when the smelters exist, 10 mining workers give job opportunities for 19 people in West Kalimantan.