Finding The Right Name For The Omnibus Law Create Work Bill

Gedung DPR (Irfan Meidianto/VOI)

JAKARTA - As many as five factions in the DPR RI have proposed changing the title for the Omnibus Cipta Kerja Bill which has become a polemic in the community. This proposal was put forward by the PDI Perjuangan, NasDem, PKS, PPP, and Gerindra factions when the DPR RI Legislation Body (Baleg) held a working committee meeting during the recess period.

The proposal from the PDI-P Faction was conveyed by the Deputy Chairman of the DPR RI Baleg, Rieke Diah Pitaloka. According to him, the title of the Job Creation Bill should be changed to a Bill on strengthening MSMEs, Cooperatives, National Industry, and Job Creation because it is impossible to create jobs but stand alone like the name of the bill.

"It is impossible for us to create jobs if the MSME sector, cooperatives and the national industry are not strong," said Rieke in a virtual meeting, Wednesday, May 20.

Meanwhile, member of the Baleg from the Gerindra Party faction Heri Gunawan requested that the title of this draft law be in accordance with the speech delivered by President Joko Widodo during the inauguration of the President and Vice President on October 20, 2019, namely the Job Creation Bill.

"Why? So that this is consistent with what was conveyed by our head of state so that our discussion is more comfortable with what was conveyed by the head of state," he said.

The NasDem faction wants this bill to change its name to the Ease of Doing Business Bill. The reason is that almost 80 percent of this draft law talks about ease of investment.

Meanwhile, the PKS Faction wants the Job Creation Bill to change its name to the Job Provision Bill and the PPP Faction wants this bill to change its name to the Job Opportunity Creation Bill and Ease of Doing Business. This is because, according to the Deputy Chairman of Baleg from the PPP faction, Achmad Baidowi said that the Draft Law discussed many steps to facilitate the business climate in Indonesia.

Although there are five factions in the DPR RI that want a name change in this bill, the government does not agree with the proposal and thinks there is no need for a name change in the draft law.

This was conveyed by the Secretary of the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy, Susiwijono. According to him, the title of this Job Creation Bill includes all of President Joko Widodo's campaign promises to expand employment in the MSME sector, investment and business convenience.

"So we still suggest the title to cover the main objective. So still work creation," said Susiwijono at the meeting.

Moreover, according to him, the proposals of the five factions had actually been accommodated through this title. For example, the PDIP faction's proposal for this bill to cover the creation of an investment ecosystem, providing business facilities, aspects of employment and government investment as well as the National Strategy Project (PSN).

When the title is changed, for example, to become the Ease of Doing Business Bill, it will actually complicate the main objective of the bill. Because, the proposed title covers only one aspect of job creation.

"We still propose the title to cover its main purpose only. Gerindra's proposal to return to being a Job Creation that we read in various countries is often called a job creation act, so the title is still proposed by Job Creation according to that consideration," he said.

Since the meeting did not find a middle ground, in the end, Chairman of the DPR RI Legislation Body, Supratman Andi Agtas, took over. Meanwhile, he suggested that all factions agree to use the title of the bill from the government.

So, this meeting can enter the next agenda. However, he emphasized, in the next discussion all factions were allowed to provide input and notes.

"For the time being, we agree on the title from the government, later in the following discussion, if there is something recorded that does not match the title of the working copyright bill cluster, of course we will discuss it again," he concluded.