Pre-employment Card Management Can File Criminal Charges If There Is Falsification Of Participant Data

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has signed presidential regulation (Perpres) Number 76 of 2020 concerning Pre-Employment Cards. This revised Presidential Regulation contains new regulations, the executing management (PMO) of the Pre-Employment Card program can file criminal sanctions charges against participants who commit identity forgery. Apart from that, management can also demand compensation.

Expert Staff for Regulation, Law Enforcement and Economic Resilience of the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs Elen Setiadi explained that criminal prosecution and compensation are carried out in two mechanisms, namely directly by the PMO or with the assistance of the Attorney General's Office.

"The mechanism can be carried out by the PMO itself with a notification that you have misused information data, or it can be done through the services of state lawyers. So the executive management can ask the prosecutor's assistance, the state attorney's attorney to claim compensation," he said, in a virtual discussion, Monday, 13 July.

In this regulation, the claim for compensation that can be filed by the PMO Pre-Work Card within a maximum period of 60 days from the stipulation of the provisions for fake recipients must return the training fee assistance and program incentives. The refund is made to the state.

However, the regulation has not explained what kind of criminal sanction and the amount of compensation that will be charged to parties who falsify their identity or personal data in participating in the Pre-Employment Card program.

Elen said that the regulations stipulated in the revised Perpres are for the future, and not retroactive. This means that participants in batches I to III who have received the pre-employment program will not be subject to criminal charges. However, the 680 batches of participants I to III will still be subject to compensation sanctions.

"The imposition of sanctions, especially if it is related to the crime, should be in the future, not allowed to apply backwards. That is the principle of criminal law. Unlike civil, if it is proven that he committed a violation, we can still sue for compensation," he said.

Actually, said Elen, falsification of criminal sanctions has been regulated in Article 93 of the Population Administration Law. The government only wants to emphasize that identity falsification is not legally permitted.

"Regarding the crime, without being regulated in the Presidential Decree, it applies in the law. So, there are two things in this Presidential Decree. There are two things to prevent, to tell you not to do that, and to correct the corrective action, we will make a lawsuit," he said.

As is well known, President Joko Widodo recently signed Presidential Decree 76 of 2020 concerning Amendments to Presidential Regulation Number 36 of 2020 concerning Work Competency Development through the Pre-Employment Card Program. The revised Presidential Decree contains a new regulation, namely that PMO can file claims for compensation as well as criminal charges against the pre-employment card participants.

In the regulation received by VOI, it is explained that Pre-employment Card participants who do not meet the requirements, because they have falsified data and have received assistance or incentives, are obliged to return it to the state. This new rule is contained in Article 31C paragraph (1) which reads:

"Recipients of Pre-Employment Cards who do not meet the requirements as referred to in Article 3 paragraph (2), paragraph (3), paragraph (4), and paragraph (5) and have received training fee assistance as referred to in Article 5 paragraph (1) and / or Incentives as referred to in Article 8 are required to return the assistance for the said training and / or incentive costs to the state. "

In paragraph (2) of the regulation, participants are also required to return training fees within a period of not more than 60 days. If not returned, the executing management will sue for compensation.

Then, the management of the pre-employment card implementation can file criminal charges combined with claims for compensation. This is regulated in Article 31D which reads:

"In the event that the Pre-Employment Card recipient deliberately falsifies his identity or personal data, the Executing Management submits a criminal charge which can be combined with a claim for compensation in accordance with the provisions of the legislation."