Indonesia has just completed the 2019 General Election which sets the Joko Widodo-Ma’ruf Amin as pair of President and Vice President of Republic of Indonesia for 2019-2024 period. Furthermore, the elected President and Vice President must integrate the vision-mission that was submitted during the campaign with the technocratic design of the 2020-2024 Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN) which prepared by the Ministry of National Development Planning Agency.
Welcoming the strategic momentum to determine the direction of medium-term national development in the next five (5) years, Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Indonesia held a Public Discussion titled “Strategic Policies on Mining Governance in the Second Term of Jokowi’s Government in 2020-2024 Period” in Balai Kartini, South Jakarta, last (18/7).
Public discussion attended by various key stakeholders from policymakers, across ministries/institutions, the private sector, non-governmental institutions, think-tank, media, and public who pay attention in development sector, governance and natural resources; discussed the direction and policies in managing the mining and natural resource sector in a transparent, accountable, and sustainable in accordance with the constitution which natural resources for the greatest benefit of the people, in the present and for future generations.
Maryati Abdullah, PWYP Indonesia’s National Coordinator, revealed that there are at least 3 (three) main issues in the mining sector, which must be the main focus of the Jokowi-MA Government. First, the sustainability of natural resources & carrying capacity of the environment regarding the availability of natural resources which is decreasing; degradation and depletion of renewable natural resources; social and environmental impacts; and opportunities for developing a green economy and biodiversity-based product.
Second, the effectiveness of the economic mining resources governance, which faced with challenges in environmental carrying capacity, land management, limited infrastructure and spatial planning; economic structural transformation related to production & trade control, management of foreign exchange / state revenue, as well as increased added value and downstream industry development; The effectiveness of decentralization and improving the surrounding community’s welfare; and transparency, accountability and law enforcement in economic & mining governance.
Third, institutional reform and regulatory certainty, related to how to encourage the effective distribution of central-regional authority, inter-agency coordination, and bureaucratic reform; guarantee the legal certainty and obedience as well as consistency in implementing regulations; and optimize the role of State-Owned Enterprise (SOE).
Hanan Nugroho, Energy and Mining Main Planner at the National Development Planning Agency said that currently, the Government is in the stage of integrating the Jokowi-Ma’ruf vision and mission with the Technocratic Draft of the 2020-2024 Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN) and still open opportunities for the public to give input to the policy planning document. In the context of mineral mining, Hanan said that several conditions where economic rent from Indonesia’s natural resources continuously declining and this decline is expected to continue as the declining of production and increasing of the cost. Thus, it is necessary to switch to the conservation policies and increase the added value. In the Technocratic Draft RPJMN 2020-2024, the development goals of the energy and mining sectors are directed to fulfill the domestic energy needs, increasing the added value, and strengthening its role in regional development.
The Director of Engineering and the Environment, Directorate General of Mineral and Coal, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources revealed that the policies that have been prepared in the Strategic Plan (Renstra) of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources for the Year 2020-2024 including the optimization of sustainable energy and mineral management in order to increase the added value; Increased energy sovereignty and security; as well as strengthening organizational capacity to become a prime driver in the Energy and Mineral Resource sector.
While Tavip Rubiyanto, Head of Sub Directorate of Energy and Mineral Resources, Directorate General of Regional Development, Ministry of Home Affairs conveyed the importance of synchronizing the mineral and coal sector in the institutional effectiveness and spatial use context, both at national and regional levels.