The revision of a number of errors in the Job Creation Law must be carried out in accordance with existing legal mechanisms. The labor group has submitted a request for review at the Constitutional Court.
By
Kompas Team
·5 minutes read
The revision of a number of errors in the Job Creation Law must be carried out in accordance with existing legal mechanisms. The labor group has submitted a request for review at the Constitutional Court.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Several errors were found in the Job Creation Law after the law was signed by President Joko Widodo and promulgated in the state gazette. The revision of these errors must be done through a mechanism provided by law. For example, the government or the House of Representatives (DPR) can initiate the law revision.
These errors, among others, are found in Article 6 in Chapter III. The article reads, "Increasing the investment ecosystem and business activities as referred to in Article 5 Paragraph (1) Letter a, includes ...." However, Article 5 Paragraph (1) that is referred to clearly does not exist in the Law Job Creation Law.
Errors also occur in Article 175 in Chapter XI, specifically in Article 53 Paragraph (5). Paragraph (5) in Article 53 refers to Paragraph (3). In fact, it should refer to Paragraph (4) because Paragraph (3) is not related to the content in Paragraph (5).
State Secretary Minister Pratikno, in a written statement, on Tuesday (3/11/2020), acknowledged that there were technical errors in the writing of the Job Creation Law. However, according to Pratikno, those errors will not affect the implementation of the law.
"The errors are technical and administrative in nature so they have no effect on the implementation of the Job Creation Law," he said.
He explained that the State Secretariat had actually checked the draft of the Job Creation Law after the document was submitted by the House.
From the results of the review, a number of technical errors were found and the ministry had asked approval from the House Secretary-General for revisions.
However, it turned out that several errors were still found after the law was signed by the President on 2 November.
According to Pratikno, these technical errors will become a lesson for the government to continuously improve the quality control of legislation products. In this way, it is hoped that technical errors, such as those found in the Job Creation Law, will not be repeated.
Errors happen often
House Legislation Body (Baleg) deputy chairman Willy Aditya of the NasDem Party faction suspected that the errors occurred when the Job Creation Law was still being deliberated by the government and the House.
There were technical errors in writing when it was promulgated. Then, revisions were made and Distribution II of the revised law was made.
"It will be corrected by the State Secretariat in Distribution II. Such errors had precedence, during the deliberation of Law No. 13/2006 concerning the Witnesses and Victims Protection and Law No. 49/2008 concerning the Establishment of Mesuji regency. There were technical errors in writing when it was promulgated. Then, revisions were made and Distribution II of the revised law was made,” said Willy.
Previously, a number of errors were also found in the final draft of the Job Creation Law released by the House after it was approved at a House Plenary Session on 5 October (Kompas, 14/10). After the House submitted the document to the government on 14 October, the State Secretary revised Article 46 of the Oil and Gas Law mentioned in the Job Creation Law, (Kompas, 24/10).
Chairman of the House’s Baleg, Supratman Andi Agtas of the Gerindra Party faction, at that time said that corrections were made to conform with the decision of the government and the House during the Job Creation Bill deliberation.
Constitutional mechanism
Constitutional Law lecturer Bivitri Susanti of the Jentera Law College, said the mechanism for issuing Distribution II to correct technical errors in a law is not regulated in Law No. 12/2011 on the Formation of Legislations. Even if there had been precedent before, this did not justify the revision as legally correct.
"So, the errors in Articles 6 and 175 of the Job Creation Law cannot be revised carelessly," she said.
Director of the Center for Legal Studies and Constitutional Theory of Satya Wacana Christian University, in Salatiga, Umbu Rauta added that if there are substantial and editorial errors in a law, the way to revise them must go through a constitutional mechanism, namely the government or the House should initiate or propose a revision of the law.
Meanwhile, the director of advocacy and network for the Center for Indonesian Law and Policy Studies, Fajri Nursyamsi, said that the errors in the Job Creation Law violate the principle of clarity of the draft stipulated in Article 5 Letter f of Law No. 12/2011.
These errors show that the Job Creation Law is formally flawed. Therefore, the Constitutional Court (MK) must seriously consider it in following up the petition for formal review of the law.
After the Job Creation Law was enacted, a group of workers immediately submitted a request for constitutional review to the Constitutional Court.
President of the Confederation of Indonesian Workers Unions (KSPI), Said Iqbal, said that the request by KSPI and the Confederation of All-Indonesia Workers Unions led by Andi Gani Nena Wea have been registered with the Constitutional Court. "For the first time, [we submit] requests for material review and followed by formal review," said Said. (NTA/REK/BOW/AGE)