TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Government faces rampant lawsuits for revocation of mining permits
Change Size
Heavy equipment and trucks pass through a coal mining site in East Kalimantan. (Antara/Wahyu Putro A)
T
he government is facing a rampant number of lawsuits from miners, whose mining permits were revoked by the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry for, among other reasons, failing to pay taxes based on a study made by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
“They have filed lawsuits against us. It is their right. We will face them,” said the ministry’s coal and mineral mining directorate general Bambang Gatot Ariyono as reported by kontan.co.id on Monday
According to a KPK study conducted in 2011, many mining companies have failed to pay taxes. Based on the study and Law No 23/20014 on regional administrations, regional administrations were asked to collect data about the ninety companies that had not fulfilled their obligations. The government marked those miners with non-clean and clear permit status.
According to the ministry, there are 3,203 out of 9,433 mining permits with the status of non-clean and clear up to January. The government has revoked 200 permits so far.
Because of the lawsuits, the government delayed announcing the mining permits that had received clean and clear status, said Bambang.
(Read also: COMMENTARY: Freeport's threat of arbitration simply a ploy to block mining reform)
Indonesian Coal Companies Association (APBI) Deputy Executive Director Hendra Sinadia said the companies had filed lawsuits against the government because they believed that they were in the right as the permits were issued by the government.
Meanwhile, Centre for Indonesian Resources Strategic Studies (Cirrus) director Budi Santoso said the government was in a weak position by revoking the mining permits. He also said that clean and clear status permits were not a guarantee that the companies had already fulfilled their obligations. (bbn)
