Not Clear Yet, When Official Draft of Job Law Would Be published

AP PHOTO/BINSAR BAKKARA

Protesters hurl debris at police during a rally against a controversial bill on job creation in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020. Thousands of enraged students and workers staged rallies across Indonesia on Thursday in opposition to the new law they say will cripple labor rights and harm the environment.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – It has been a week since the omnibus bill on job creation was approved by the House of Representatives (DPR), but the public is still unable to access the official draft of the new law.

It is not clear when the official draft of the new law, which has received widespread opposition from the public, will be published. The condition in which the DPR building has been temporarily closed due to the spread of Covid-19 has been used as the reason why the draft of the new law has not been uploaded on the DPR\'s official website.

In addition, the publication of the official draft of the new law is highly dependent on the policies of the DPR leadership and the President.

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It is unusual because the official drafts of new laws are usually distributed directly to DPR members during the second stage of the decision-making process at a plenary session. As it was reported, the draft could not be distributed because, among others, it was being checked for possible “punctuation errors”.

The deputy chairman of the House Legislation Body representing the NasDem faction, Willy Aditya, said that a minor change in the official draft had been made. But it is not clear yet whether the official draft can be immediately published to the public.

"Currently the DPR building is being locked down. I don\'t know what the technical aspects are because the DPR building has to be cleaned first, sprayed with disinfectant. Maybe after that such activities, the draft of the Job Creation Law can be published to the public,” he said in Jakarta on Sunday (11/10/2020).

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KOMPAS/DAHLIA IRAWATI

Rejection Omnibus Law – Dozens of students from the People Alliance for Democracy hold up posters at a rally at City Hall in Malang city, East Java, on Monday (24/2/2020). The protesters objected to the omnibus bill on job creation, which they claimed would sacrifice the normative rights of the community.

The Nusantara I building at the House compound has been temporarily closed after 18 DPR members and 22 employees tested positive for Covid-19. Earlier, DPR Secretary-General Indra Iskandar said the building would be closed from Monday (12/10) to 8 Nov. 8, 2020. The building will be reopened when the House’s second session of the 2020-2021 begin on 9 Nov.

Referring to the DPR\'s regulations, after being approved in a plenary session, the DPR leadership has seven working days to send the final draft of a new law to the President. The new Job Creation Bill was approved on 5 Oct., meaning that the draft must be submitted to the President at the latest on Wednesday (14/10).

House Convention

Didi Irawadi Syamsuddin, a member of Democratic Party faction, said the deliberation of the Job Creation Bill was flawed in both in its substance and procedure. Even though there is no requirement in the DPR\'s regulations to distribute the draft of a bill that will be approved in a plenary session, it has become a convention or a common practice that each House member get a copy of the draft of the bill to be approved.

"In this top level meeting forum, all who attend must be given a copy of the draft of the bill to be approved, both physically and digitally. The DPR leadership should ensure that the final draft of the bill which is so important and crucial due to its great impact on the fate of workers, MSMEs, the environment, and so on, are distributed to all the DPR members, "he said.

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If the draft has not been published, or if it is not clear which version to be used, it is wrong

HICON Law & Policy Strategic director Hifdzil Alim said that the delay in the publication of the official draft of the Job Creation Law indicated that the deliberation process of the Job Creation Bill was not open. In fact the draft is eagerly awaited by the public who are preparing a formal and material review on the implementation of the new law.

"During the approval process, the content of the draft has to be clear. There should no more addition or reduction of articles, chapters or punctuation such as periods, commas, and so on. An editorial correction should be done before the approval is made. "If the draft has not been published, or if it is not clear which version to be used, it is wrong," he said.

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AP PHOTO/TATAN SYUFLANA

A police officer fires a projectile during a rally against a controversial bill on job creation in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020. Thousands of enraged students and workers staged rallies across Indonesia on Thursday in opposition to the new law they say will cripple labor rights and harm the environment.

If it is not clear whether the draft published in the public is the final version, according to Hifdzil, it is difficult for the public to prepare material for a judicial review at the Constitutional Court. In fact, the people, who reject the new law public, have been encouraged to file a legal challenge through the Constitutional Court. The call to file a judicial review, among others, came from President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.

"People already know that at the end they have to go to MK [the Constitutional Court], but that\'s not what the public needs. The push to the Constitutional Court seems as if the government is denying the public\'s voice, "he said.

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Jember University legislation lecturer Bayu Dwi Anggono also said that no official draft of the new law was available to the public.

The problems related to the newly passed Job Creation Law indicated that the legislators were not prepared to make a law using an omnibus method. Law No. 12/2011 concerning the Formation of Laws and Regulations has not adopted that method. As a result, there is no knowledge or guidance regarding the technical aspects of how the law should be drafted.

"If you want to make laws using the omnibus method, the government and the DPR should first focus on the aspects of the readiness of the regulation governing the omnibus law, namely through Law No. 12/2011," he said.