In his speech shortly after taking the oath of office in the House of Representatives compound in Central Jakarta, Jokowi pledged that, among other goals, his administration aimed to simplify regulations by creating two omnibus laws relating to job creation and the empowerment of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

“Both of these laws will be omnibus laws, namely a single law that revises several, even dozens of other laws. Dozens of laws that hamper job creation will be revised at the same time. Dozens of laws that hamper the development of small and medium enterprises will also be revised,” Jokowi said.

He has many times said that numerous overlapping regulations are bad news for investments and the country’s economy.

Recently sworn-in Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly and Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto said the President had briefed them to go full-throttle in preparing the laws.

An omnibus law was first introduced during the last months of Jokowi’s first term by Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, who said that the government had a plan to issue one in the tax sector to amend the General Taxation Law, Income Tax Law and Value Added Tax Law, the revisions of which had so far been deliberated sluggishly.

Sri Mulyani said the measure would be taken to attract more foreign direct investments, as well as to tap deeper into the country’s tax collection potential.

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