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.
Analysis: Perppu creates problems, not jobs
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Workers and women activists staged a protest against the Omnibus Law in front of the Parliament Building, Central Jakarta in March 2020. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
P
resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo presented a new year gift in the form of a government regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) on job creation. Signed on Dec. 30, 2022, Perppu No. 2/2022 replaced the Job Creation Law that in late 2021 was declared conditionally unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court (MK) and therefore had to be revised within two years in a process that must include meaningful public participation.
The Perppu is 1,117 pages long and consists of 186 articles with changes to several articles such as rules of employment, minimum wages and arrangements for outsourced workers. For example, the regulation eliminates the right to two days off in a week for workers as stipulated in Article 79 Paragraph (2b). According to the regulation, workers deserve one day off the weekly break for six working days. Law No. 13/2009 on Employment regulates two days off a week for workers. Additionally, the jobs law says outsourcing can be open to all business sectors, but the regulation changes that to some sectors.
According to the Manpower Ministry, the Perppu was issued because the state needs to ensure the citizens' rights to work and a decent living through the Job Creation Law. The government also sees the need for broad employment absorption as well as adjustments to various regulatory aspects relating to the facilitation, protection and empowerment of cooperatives and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). In addition, the regulation was said to implement the MK’s order for the revision of the Job Creation Law.
Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto insisted that the state of emergency behind the issuance of the Perppu was justified by the imminent global recession to the point of stagflation the country is facing. According to Airlangga, the crisis is a real threat for emerging markets like Indonesia, while a few developed countries have already come under the International Monetary Fund’s supervision. Therefore, the government needs to respond quickly to anticipate the storm. Airlangga also revealed the regulation was issued to provide legal certainty to investors and business players who had been waiting for the development of the Job Creation Law since the MK declared it conditionally unconstitutional.
The Perppu has unsurprisingly sparked public criticism. Civil society groups said the regulation deprived the public of meaningful participation per the court’s order in the making of the Job Creation Law. The intention of issuing such an “emergency regulation” is also questioned by the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KontraS). The group deems the regulation as a form of government act arbitrary, which contradicts the rule of law as it nullifies the MK’s ruling. KontraS therefore urges revocation of the Job Creation Law as well as the Perppu.
A similar sentiment was shared by House of Representatives Commission IX Deputy Speaker Kurniasih Mufidayati of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS). She said President Jokowi had bragged about Indonesia’s economy among the Group of 20 countries, which indicated that all was well in the country despite the looming threat of a global recession.
The Association of Indonesian Trade Unions (Aspek) suspects the Perppu would cost workers their job security and wage guarantee for the sake of investors. However, the Labor Party opts to play it safe. The party’s chairman Said Iqbal said they would not directly confront the government related to the Perppu because they believed that President Jokowi would listen to the workers’ aspirations and not force his will against workers. Instead, the party suspected Airlangga was behind the issuance of the regulation just to please Jokowi.
