Nickel Entrepreneurs Concerned About Revocation Of Business Permits, Commission VII Of DPR Calls Political Problems

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Commission VII of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) received a complaint from the Indonesian Nickel Entrepreneurs Association (APNI) regarding the revocation of hundreds of Mining Business Permits (IUP) by the government. Commission VII member Nasril Bahar assessed that there were political issues behind the revocation of 385 (newly released 180) IUPs through the Ministry of Investment/Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) from February 2 to March 5, 2022.

The permits consist of 248 IUPs for mineral commodities and 137 IUPs for coal commodities. Therefore, according to Nasril, there must be further investigation regarding this matter.

"A bit confused, huh. I see two things here. On the one hand, related to technical studies issued by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, and there were three warning letters until March 14, 2022 yesterday (or six days ago) as explained by the Secretary-General of APNI," said Nasril in the Public Hearing Meeting (RDPU) of DPR RI Commission VII with the Indonesian Nickel Entrepreneurs Association (APNI), which was broadcast via live streaming, Tuesday, March 22.

Nasril saw no revocation. But it was said earlier that the Ministry of Investment had already withdrawn it.

"For example, PT Madani Sejahtera received a letter of revocation by the Ministry of Investment on March 2, 2022, but on March 14, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources was still given a warning. This is indeed strange," Nasril added.

Nasril examines there is a technical versus a political. Therefore, his party wants to parse the regulations that are both issued by legislation. Where is the problem. This is because one of the functions of parliament is to make regulations (laws) with the government.

"Of course, from the hierarchy there can be no derivative laws, whether in the form of a Presidential Decree or a Ministerial Decree (Kepmen) that is not in accordance with the law as a legal product above it," he continued.

As a solution, he assessed that there are two things that must be explored further, namely technical issues and political issues. All of this must be discussed by the Technical Ministry, namely the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, in particular the Director General of Mineral and Coal. Because many things are harmed from a policy that does not take sides.

"Therefore, I am with APNI to resolve this matter," said Nasril.

In line with Nasril, Member of DPR RI Commission VII, Sartono admitted that he was surprised by the revocation of hundreds of IUPs. Moreover, there are companies that are still in the production process. The reason is, in this business world, an investment is a long and bloody process, but in the end with the OSS (Online Single Submission) system, the IUP was revoked.

He suspects that the system does not understand the problems in the field. So there is no factual verification, or confirmation. In other words, only robots carry out the process. This has also been reported by several other parties, such as the local government of Central Java some time ago. These problems regarding OSS must have a deep correction, a radical correction.

“The intention is good, but the mechanism doesn't work well. Therefore, I ask that the Commission VII's recommendations will explain the problems in the field, so I have to discuss this again with the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources," said Sartono.

"This involves hundreds of thousands of people, as well as state income. We want to get state income in our unlucky economic situation, but instead that potential is lost, unemployment increases, and enthusiasm to become entrepreneurs will slack," said Sartono.

On that occasion the Secretary-General of APNI Meidy Katrin explained that there were several legal implications of the revocation of the IUP for production operations, namely, firstly, there was no mining business activity and state revenue.

Second, mining workers are laid off and increase unemployment, anxiety and social conflict.

Third, there is no investment guarantee from the government, contrary to the PEN (National Economic Recovery) program after Covid 19. And there is no guarantee for prospective new IUP investors to be better than previous investors.