Tin Corruption Makes The Babylon Economy Drop, Thousands Of People Get Layoffs

JAKARTA - The Bangka Belitung (Babel) economy is said to have been corrected due to a tin corruption case, in which the Attorney General's Office (AGO) confiscated the smelter's assets so that many people could not work to hand over the mining results.

As a result, purchasing power also decreased because people did not have enough money to shop, the retail sector as a marker of purchasing power also fell.

"(The economy) is down again because in areas that rely on natural resources when the industry is down, yes, the economy has also decreased," said Chairman of the Indonesian Shopping Center Retailers and Renters Association (Hippindo) Budihardjo Iduansjah in his official statement, Friday, October 11.

The same pattern occurs in other regions that also rely on natural resources to live, namely, Kalimantan and other regions.

"It's like Kalimantan when coal is good, sales are good, so certain areas such as Babel with tin, Kalimantan with coal and Makassar with coffee harvest, sales increase. So, it does follow the income from selling the earth," he said.

Meanwhile, Head of the Manpower Service (Kadisnaker) Babel Elius Gani said a number of palm oil companies whose ownership was related to tin owners were closed and their accounts were blocked.

As a result, a number of companies have difficulty paying for employee rights and many workers have been laid off.

"When compared to last year's figure, 38 workers were laid off, currently 1,527 people have been laid off. So there was a significant increase because the smelter company was closed as a result of controlling tin governance," he said.

It is known that the economy of the Bangka Belitung Islands in the second quarter of 2024 grew by 1.03 percent or slower than the achievement of the same period in 2023, which was 5.13 percent.

Elius said that currently there are not many job opportunities that can be offered in Bangka Belitung.

"For the tin sector, 6 smelters were closed, including several companies affiliated with the smelter. Apart from the smelter, 8, a total of 14 businesses were closed. 1,372 workers were laid off," he said.

Business actors assess that tin governance must be developed properly. Therefore, there must be concrete actions so that the problem of trading can be clearer and safer for miners.