Indonesian President Joko Widodo has signed an emergency regulation to replace a controversial job creation law, his Cabinet said yesterday, a year after the Indonesian Constitutional Court ruled that the law was flawed.
Some legal experts criticized the move as an attempt to bypass proper debate in parliament, but Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said the regulation was to ensure legal certainty and achieve the Indonesian government’s investment target amid global geopolitical uncertainty.
The Constitutional Court last year ruled that the passage of the president’s vaunted Jobs Creation Law was flawed due to inadequate public consultations and ordered the Indonesian legislature to restart the process within two years.
Photo: AP
The law would otherwise be deemed unconstitutional, it said.
Passed in 2020, the so-called “omnibus” law revised more than 70 other laws and was lauded by foreign investors for streamlining business rules in Southeast Asia’s largest economy, which is notorious for its onerous bureaucracy.
However, it also sparked nationwide protests from workers, students and environmental advocates, who said it eroded labor and environmental protections.
Photo: Reuters
Noting the court’s ruling, Airlangga said: “Constitutionally, the emergency regulation will replace the Jobs Creation Law.”
Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mohammad Mahfud Mahmodin said the government opted for an emergency regulation because the routine procedure to comply with the ruling would take too long.
The government needed to decide “strategic measures” in anticipation of the impact of a global economic downturn and potential food crisis next year, he said.
Indonesian lawmakers earlier this year said they had planned to redo the deliberation of the legislation to comply.
Bivitri Susanti, a constitutional law expert from the Indonesia Jentera School of Law, criticized the move as “ridiculous” and “inappropriate,” as it would reduce the time for proper debate in parliament.
“Everyone can see there is no emergency. It’s holiday time,” she said. “This emergency regulation is really a fait accompli from the president.”
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