The Government of Indonesia designed the Omnibus Law on the Employment Copyright Bill as an effort to encourage investment and create job opportunities in Indonesia.
However, the Employment Copyright Bill attracted a lot of criticism. Politicians and the general public considered the substance is more in favor of business interests than the interests of the people.
To explore the draft regulation that has the potential to cause significant changes in labor issues and the Indonesian economy in general, UGM Faculty of Social and Political Sciences held a Public Discussion on the Employment Bill on Thursday (12/3) at the Auditorium of UGM Faculty of Social and Political Sciences.
“We intend to create broad and equitable employment opportunities. Therefore, the points targeted at this bill include increasing the competence of job seekers, increasing productivity and welfare of workers, increasing investment, ease of doing business, and empowering MSMEs and cooperatives,” said the Arif Budimanta as a Special Staff of the President of the Republic of Indonesia.
According to him, the Employment Copyright Bill itself will be able to simplify regulations and permits, which often become obstacles to the entry of investment and business development in Indonesia. Therefore, those who will benefit from this regulation will be not only big business people, but also micro, small, and medium businesses.
“Even the small business sector also needs assurance. We have to settle all of this, and one of the instruments is the Work Creation Bill because we are facing hyper-regulation,” he explained.
The substance of the bill, which consists of 15 chapters and 174 articles, talks about licensing, ease of doing business, investment, and MSME / cooperative as much as 86.5 percent, while the rest discusses employment, economic zones, the imposition of sanctions, as well as research and innovation.
According to him, to ensure that this regulation is well designed and brings positive benefits to the community, the government, is open to any opinion, including from the UGM academic community.
“We must make this as the nation’s great work that guarantees a better and more advanced future of Indonesia,” said Arif.
On the same occasion, the Special Staff of the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Reza Yamora Siregar, explained that five things at least motivated the Employment Bill. They are complexity and obesity regulations, Indonesia’s low competitiveness rating, and the great workforce that does not or does not work or not full work.
Besides, President Joko Widodo, in his second period of leadership, targeted Indonesia’s economic growth to reach 6 percent per year, assuming that the growth rate was able to meet the employment needs of 2.2 million per year. To achieve this target, the government needs various innovations, including regulation.
“If it can sustainably grow, in 2040, Indonesia can enter into developed countries. There is still a chance, but it’s getting smaller because we do not have enough time, it needs to start now considering the world economic conditions are also unstable,” Reza explained.
In this discussion, several UGM experts also attended. They are Prof. Tadjuddin Noer Effendy from the Department of Sociology, Riza Noer Arfani from the Department of International Relations, Mirwan Ushada from the UGM Research Directorate, and Arie Sujito from the Department of Sociology.
There were also academicians, activists, and students who had the opportunity to deliver questions or critical reviews of this bill in the discussion session.
Author: Gloria
Translator: Natasa A