Greenpeace Considers The Work Creation Bill A Threat To The Future Of The Environment

Illustration. (Photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The Work Creation Bill (RUU) as part of the Omnibus Law proposed by the government has been submitted to the DPR. The formulation of a bill that has been discussed behind closed doors has been increasingly discussed and is feared to be a major threat not only to workers' rights and the future of environmental protection in Indonesia.

Greenpeace Indonesia stated that instead of creating jobs, it seems that this bill will create more environmental problems in the future. Greenpeace Indonesia assesses that the material and direction of the Omnibus Law will actually aggravate the existing governance system in Indonesia.

"This can be seen from the many efforts to simplify regulations which have resulted in the weakening of environmental protection and human rights violations," said Asep Komaruddin, Greenpeace Indonesia Forest Campaigner, in a statement quoted on Sunday, February 16.

The Omnibus Law that the government is currently promoting, he said, has the potential to even become a freeway for rampant corruption in the field of natural resource management.

"So that the practice of destroying the environment in the end is very difficult to prevent and it becomes increasingly out of control," he said.

At a time when the world community is struggling with floods and droughts due to the climate crisis, Indonesia is increasingly putting forward and providing a red carpet for dirty industries in order to boost investment.

"For example, coal is the cause of the climate crisis and releases a safety net for the sustainability of Indonesia's forests, which is a solution to the climate crisis," he said.

The plan to eliminate articles that contain the principle of absolute responsibility or strict liability in the Work Creation Bill will in fact make it difficult for law enforcers to ensnare corporations related to forest and land fires (karhutla).

"President Jokowi seems to prefer to remove the Kapolda or Pangdam who failed to prevent forest and land fires than to revoke the permits of companies that are involved in fire problems," he explained.

The government, said Asep, is still failing to address the root causes of the forest and land fires problem in which not all of the corporations that have been proven guilty have complied with paying court ruling fines.

"So it is only natural that the public doubts Jokowi's seriousness, especially if the rules are even castrated," he said.

Greenpeace Indonesia regrets that the Job Creation Bill has dwarfed the role of environmental impact analysis (Amdal) and the elimination of environmental permits. This is at risk of ignoring the impacts of environmental damage that cannot be predicted, monitored and overcome.

"The community must continue to be involved in decision making because if there is environmental damage they will be the first to be affected. In addition, the loss of an environmental permit will eliminate the community's right to file objections and legal remedies which have been a means of controlling decisions related to the environment," added Asep.

The coal industry that carries out utilization and development activities will get a license extension up to the lifetime of the mine, which means that they can dredge the coal until it runs out.

"The interests of the coal industry have clearly played a lot and were accommodated by the government in the formulation of this bill," said Satrio Swandiko, Greenpeace Indonesia Climate and Energy Campaigner.

Energy Not Environmentally Friendly

The Job Creation Bill, said Satrio, will also exempt the obligation to pay royalties for the coal industry which increases added value, which can be in the form of gasification processes and liquid coal which are predicted by several parties to be included in the definition of New Energy in the framework of New Renewable Energy which is currently This is used by the Government as a way to reduce carbon emissions in the energy sector.

Greenpeace Indonesia believes that this will be a big lie to the Jokowi administration's climate change commitment, if the 23 percent EBT target includes coal in it. Coal is not an environmentally friendly product with low carbon emissions.

"Coal has left a trail of environmental damage from upstream to downstream. It is ironic that the Omnibus Law encourages the downstreaming of coal by providing all the features that are not obtained by clean renewable energy, "said Satrio.

The loss of local government authority has limited the bottom up process in national electricity planning that can make the most of the potential renewable energy sources in the area.

"The power of electricity that is withdrawn to the realm of the central government will also be full of elite interests that will benefit," added Satrio.

The Job Creation Bill also provides facilities for nuclear business permits, which will be issued directly by the central government.

“Nuclear is not a cheap source of energy, this law has misinterpreted what Indonesia needs to move towards a clean and safe energy transition. At a time when many developed countries such as Germany and Japan began to leave it, Indonesia was actually moving backward by encouraging the use of nuclear and coal, "concluded Satrio.