Faisal Basri: The Job Creation Law Is A Systematic Effort For The Regime To Open The Gap For Corruption

JAKARTA - Senior Economist Faisal Basri criticizes the problem of corruption in Indonesia which is getting worse. According to him, the presence of the Omnibus Law on Job Creation cannot solve the problem of corruption, on the contrary.

Faisal said the sweeping the world law was one of the ways in a series of steps by the government in creating greater corruption.

"For me, this is a systematic effort from the regime, starting with the weakening of the Corruption Eradication Commission, then amendments to the Constitutional Court Law, Perppu, and the renewable energy bill, which has almost the same character, loosens or makes roads smoother for the exploitation of natural resources," he said in a discussion. virtual with the title 'Job Creation Law vs Corruption Eradication', Thursday, October 15th.

According to Faisal, various government steps that have changed to introduce new regulations have disrupted democratic freedom in Indonesia. Coupled with the concentration of power which tends to be abused by means of repression and others.

Furthermore, Faisal said, the abuse of power was clearly seen from the process of making the Omnibus Law on Job Creation which was not credible. In fact, it received resistance from various parties, and caused the union to go on a national strike.

"Everything seems to be arranged because the strength of the opposition is weak. Checks and balances are lacking because public participation is less desirable. That is all that causes the Omnibus Law, the potential for corruption increases," he explained.

Indonesia's democracy index has also decreased. He said one of the causes was the increase in the level of corruption in Indonesia, which initially ranked 48 in the democracy index, which fell greatly in the era of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).

In fact, he said, in 2016 Indonesia had occupied the best position, namely 48 then dropped to 68 in 2017.

"Indonesia ranks 68th under Malaysia. Our brothers in East Leste are much better than us. We are not an example and a benchmark for democracy. Thailand is worse than Indonesia, as well as Singapore," he said.

Faisal said, currently there is also a decrease in political participation and political culture . So that people are increasingly lazy to see the general election (election). This is because the five-year democratic party in search of state leaders is considered not to bring change, especially in the case of corruption.

"There are problems that make the seeds of corruption increase. Therefore, we still have to be vigilant, corruption should not be relaxed. But the KPK officially says the focus is not on eradicating corruption but preventing corruption. Everyone already knows that the KPK is getting weaker," he explained.