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Who handles what? BKPM’s announcement on immediate nickel export ban stirs controversy
BKPM’s announcement only adds unnecessary confusion over the exact raw nickel export ban deadline, which has been changed twice over the past 10 years.
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Activities at a nickel mining site. (Kontan/Cheppy A. Muchlis)
T
he Investment Coordinating Board’s (BKPM) announcement of an immediately effective nickel export ban two months ahead of schedule and without any legal basis has surprised not only local industry players but also the global market.
The newly installed chief, Bahlil Lahadalia, whose announcement was riddled with nationalistic rhetoric, said the agreement did not involve any written document but was based on “a collective awareness [between stakeholders] as children of the nation” after holding a closed-door meeting with miners.
Two mineral resources experts told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that without issuing a regulation, the BKPM’s declaration of an accelerated export ban was basically invalid.
“Furthermore, the BKPM is not the authority in charge of the [mining] sector. In this case, it’s the Energy and Mineral Resources [ESDM] Ministry,” said Indonesian Mining Institute (IMI) chairman Irwandy Arif.
“The BKPM’s purpose is to handle investments, not to regulate commodity exports and imports, especially when it comes to asserting regulations made by the ESDM ministry in an area of the ministry’s jurisdiction,” said Ahmad Redi, a mineral resources expert with Tarumanagara University.
Read also: Indonesia to ban nickel exports from January 2020
Bahlil’s announcement only adds unnecessary confusion over the exact raw nickel export ban deadline, which has been changed twice over the past 10 years. The most recent legally valid deadline is Jan. 1, 2020 as stipulated in ESDM Ministerial Regulation No. 11/2019, which was issued in late August.
