Representatives from business groups, labor unions and economists at a forum on Thursday highlighted the need for the government to be transparent, inclusive and flexible when deliberating over the bills.

Timboel Siregar, the secretary-general of the Indonesian Workers Organization, called on his labor union colleagues, business players, the governments — all stakeholders in the omnibus bills on jobs creation and taxation — to be fair and provide constructive input, as opposed to strongly resisting them without clear information about the bills.

“Constructive communications must be conducted. The government, labor groups and business people cannot just insist on each other’s points and arguments. There must be a constructive communication and negotiations involving all related stakeholders to talk about this,” said Timboel. 

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The government has planned the two omnibus bills on jobs creation and taxation to revise regulations deemed to hinder investment to stoke economic growth and create jobs in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

However, it has not yet submitted the bills to the House of Representatives and will only circulate the drafts for public scrutiny afterwards. Still, general information has been leaked by ministers, creating strong opposition against the omnibus bill on job creation from labor groups and environmentalists for potentially harming labor rights and the environment.