The Bill of Law Amendment No.4/2009 on Mineral and Coal Mining (RUU Minerba) had been proposed almost 5 years ago, on February 02, 2015, within the National Legislation Program 2015-2019. A long process on drafting bill and Problem Inventory List/DIM is considered not optimally yet to answer many obstacles in the mining sector. The delay on RUU Minerba is also caused by interests between faction and government, besides some problems that appear in the implementation all this time.

In order to enlarge public discourse on the substance and critical matters in the Revision of Minerba Law, Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Indonesia along with the Coalition of Concern Society on Minerba Bill held a Public Discussion titled “Revision of Mineral and Coal Mining Law and the Future of Mining Governance” on Monday (20/1) at Balai Kartini, Jakarta. This public discussion presented a variety of stakeholders consist of policymakers across ministries/institutions, the private sector, non-governmental institutions, think-thank, media, and public who concern on extractive industry sector, public policy in development, and natural resources governance.

Fabby Tumiwa as Chairperson of the Board at PWYP Indonesia, gave a keynote speech by explaining that there are three important aspects that the government must pay attention to; First, the paradigm in the use of mines and the transition to renewable energy; Second, regarding governance in the aspect of supervision, control, and production coaching; Third, the downstream and utilization of coal for domestic energy needs. Also, he said, “is about changing regime from Coal Management Work Agreement (PKP2B) to Special Mining License/IUPK, considering that some of the company’s licenses will be expired soon.”

Fabby expects that the Prolegnas agenda on Minerba Bill will not be delayed to the next period, considering that the Minerba Law has great urgency not only for mining governance context in Indonesia but also for national energy policy. Therefore, the discussion of Minerba Bill have to link with these issues.

Regarding to the utilization of mineral and coal mining, Fabby gave an example that in the Presidential Regulation No.22/2017 on Indonesia National Energy Planning/RUEN, has been stated that the coal is not only use for export commodity but as a capital development. It means that the use of coal for national energy needs to be increased. It was also stated the limit of coal production by 400 million tons in 2019. However, there is inconsistencies occurred when the realization of coal production in 2019 was already higher than the target, even higher than the quota. Likewise, the 2020 coal production plan of 550 million tons has exceeded the limit which is set in the RUEN.

Dr. Tri Hayati, academic from University of Indonesia, highlight relation between the draft bills of Minerba and Omnibus Law. She said that it must be aligned to the philosophical foundation on Article 33 of 1945 Constitution (UUD 45). The same thing was also mentioned by Rizal Kasli, as Chairman of PERHAPPI (Association of Indonesian Mining Experts).

Nevertheless, Dr. Tri Hayati put her concerned on the substance of Omnibus Law. “What I’m worried about is the Omnibus Law, whether between sectors can be synchronous and harmonious, because each sector actually has different characteristics.” This concern was also expressed by Maryati Abdullah, National Coordinator of PWYP Indonesia, by saying that “Omnibus Law’s proposal was only heard after the president inaugurated and was not in the presidential campaign. I am worried that the desire for economic transformation as mandated by Article 33 UUD 45 is simplified to be only related to ease of doing business or entry to business, and not for sustainability business”.

On the other hand, Heriyanto, the Head of the sub-directorate of Coal Business Guidance at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), in his presentation conveyed the 10 years of performance achievement in mineral and coal mining management. Some of these points are about the arrangement of mining licenses, where Heriyanto claims there are already 3,600 IUPs out of 10,000 which are regarded as Clean and Clear. “This registered IUP can do production, while others are illegal.” He said. In addition, other performances are regarding to KK/PKP2B amendments, increased mineral value added for the supply of downstream industrial raw materials, increasing state revenue, online licensing systems, integrated online supervision systems, and simplifying regulations and permits.

Ahmad Hanafi, Director of the Indonesian Parliamentary Center (IPC), is more focused on the problems in drafting process of Omnibus Law. According to him, Omnibus Law needs to be discussed deeply and more detail, thus it is expected that the bill which target dozens of laws can involve more stakeholders and requires more time. “Experience from Parliament in previous period, the bill which registered in Prolegnas was taken time at least 2 (two) years on average. Therefore, the Omnibus Law that wants to be finished in a short time seems rushed, thus potentially reduce public participation. Do not let anyone left behind” he said. (WC/AA)