Jakarta – Since it opened in the Plenary Session on November 16, 2016, the House of Representatives (DPR) officially entered its 2nd trial period in 2016 – 2017 which is also nearing the end of the 2016 National Legislation Program (Prolegnas). During this session, The Indonesian Parliament continues to demand its commitment to finalize a number of Draft Laws (Bills) which are the priority of the 2016 National Legislation Program. on average only 41.69% or 234 out of 560 members of the DPR. (Wiki DPR, 2016).

One commitment of the DPR which continues to be invoiced is the completion of the discussion on the Revision of Law Number 22 Year 2001 Concerning Oil and Gas (Oil and Gas Law) which “stalled” at Commission 7. The Indonesian Civil Society Coalition Publish What You Pay (PWYP) notes, “stalled” The discussion began since the Revision of the Oil and Gas Law was included in the DPR Prolegnas list since 2010. The Revised Agenda for Oil and Gas Law this year is the 3rd (third) for the House of Representatives for the 2014-2019 period as well as marking 12 (twelve) years after its publication Constitutional Court ruling No. 002 / PUU-I / 2003 which canceled a number of articles in Law Number 21/2001 concerning Oil and Gas and 4 (four) years after the issuance of the Constitutional Court’s decision No. 36 / PUU-X / 2012 which dissolved BP Migas.

Sulastio, Member of the Indonesia PWYP Steering Board, conveyed his stalled discussion on the Revision of the Oil and Gas Law in line with the poor performance of the DPR’s legislation which until 9 November 2016 only completed 9 Laws and 50 Laws that were targeted or only around 18%. “The agenda for the discussion of the Revision of the Oil and Gas Law seems to be only a ‘sweet display’ in each Prolegnas compiled by the Parliament without any effort to just discuss it. The slow discussion of the Revision of the Oil and Gas Law, is further exacerbated by the ‘silence’ of the process in Commission 7. ”

“Based on records from the Indonesia Parlianmentary Center (IPC) / Civil Society Coalition for MD3 Law, an evaluation of the DPR RI Legislative Process for the 2016 V Session Period shows that the discussion meeting on the Oil and Gas Bill was entirely closed. In addition, the space for community participation in the discussion of the Oil and Gas Bill is also very limited and only involves limited parties, namely partners from the government. ”

“Given that the oil and gas sector is a strategic sector, which is vulnerable to being driven by the interests of the oil and gas mafia, the discussion processes should be transparent and participatory. The slow and silent process of discussing this strategic law is not only the responsibility of Commission 7, but also the responsibility of the DPR Leadership to oversee it. ” Sulastio explained.

Sulastio who is also the Chairperson of the IPC Supervisory Board added, “The 2016 session period is actually a very appropriate moment to complete the Revision of the Oil and Gas Law considering the break of the national political agenda such as the holding of the elections and the preparation of the 2019 elections. a package of political laws and preparations for holding the 2019 elections. ”

Maryati Abdullah, PWYP Indonesia’s National Coordinator emphasized that the acceleration of the discussion on the Revision of the Oil and Gas Law was not only because the Constitutional Court’s decisions annulled several previous Oil and Gas Law articles, but were related to various problems that demanded a systemic solution, such as the real threat of the energy crisis in 2025. Indonesia was predicted requires energy 7.496 million barrels of oil equivalent per day with 47% of energy sources from oil and gas; and energy consumption of 1.4 tons of oil equivalent per day (DEN, 2016). On the other hand, today’s facts show that oil production is only 250 thousand barrels per day with 86% of total national oil production coming from old oil and gas fields; as well as current reserves already Current reserves are not able to meet the needs (SKK Migas, 2016).

Not to mention the threat of oil and gas mafia practices which continue to undermine. The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) found a potential state loss of around US $ 336.1 million or equivalent to Rp 4.4 trillion due to the non-fulfillment of financial obligations by Oil and Gas Cooperation Contract Contractors (KKS) to Work Areas that have already been terminated (Ministry of Press Release ESDM, October 2016). In addition, the KPK also found that of the 319 work areas, there were 143 Work Areas in the upstream oil and gas sector that had not paid off financial obligations. Whereas 141 Work Areas do not carry out Environmental Based Assessment-EBA obligations (Katadata, 2016).

Maryati Abdullah stated that the root of various problems in the oil and gas sector is the legal umbrella that still has many gaps, both in terms of planning, management, guidance and supervision. PWYP Indonesia identified a number of key issues that must be included in the discussion of the Oil and Gas Bill, namely the planning of oil and gas management, the upstream oil and gas institutional model that enables the process of checks and balances; Supervisory Agency, BUMN Management, Petroleum Fund, Domestic Market Obligation (DMO), Reserve Funds, Cost Recovery, Participating Interest (PI), Protection of the Impacts of Oil and Gas Activities, and Information System Reform and Participation.

“The movement of the oil and gas mafia must be closed with information system reform and participation that ensures the fulfillment of the rights to public information. Transparency of KKKS Contract openness, DBH calculation, lifting data, sales data and AMDAL documents must be opened. In addition, the Oil and Gas Bill must provide a guarantee of space for participation to be involved in every stage of management of the oil and gas sector in Indonesia, which is barely met, “said Maryati.

Maryati also asked the House Leadership to urge Commission 7 to immediately discuss the Revision of the Oil and Gas Law, “The discussion on the oil and gas bill is a concern that must not be postponed anymore. The DPR’s commitment to the discussion agenda for the revision of the Oil and Gas Law may no longer be limited to discourse, but must be accompanied by concrete steps. We hope that at least until the end of this session there will be a draft revision of the Parliament version of the Oil and Gas Law to be immediately discussed with the Government ”

In Media , Press Conference| PWYP Indonesia | November 25th, 2016