Moeldoko said the government had the people’s best interests in mind by aiming to create more employment opportunities through the implementation of the newly passed jobs law.

Furthermore, he claimed President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo was unafraid of making bold decisions if it meant that Indonesia could be better-equipped to compete against other countries for economic prowess, particularly in regard to the Ease of Doing Business (EODB) index.

“President Jokowi chose to be unafraid in taking risks and take steep and uphill paths,” Moeldoko said as quoted by kompas.com.

He said that those opposed to the jobs law simply lacked understanding of its core tenets, claiming that the legislation product was intended as a catalyst for a streamlined bureaucracy to entice future investments and improve national economic growth.

Moeldoko said that 80 percent of the country’s workforce had a low level of education, further necessitating a law that cuts through red tape to allow for more job opportunities.

“We need to streamline and synchronize what I call ‘hyper-regulation’ that has hindered the creation of employment opportunities,” he said

Critics of the jobs law have accused the government and the House of Representatives of sidestepping public concerns and rushing the process to pass the legislation.

The President brushed off criticism against the jobs law as “disinformation and hoaxes spread through social media”, adding that “relevant parties” were welcome to challenge the law by submitting a request for judicial review with the Constitutional Court. 

Meanwhile, the Executive Office of the President has said that the government will “immediately” begin drafting regulations for the implementation of the Job Creation Law following the submission of the final draft of the law to Jokowi on Wednesday.

“The government will now start working to draft required regulations that will provide detailed explanations of the provisions in the law,” said Donny Gahral Adian, a leading expert at the office.

He said officials would begin the drafting process immediately, particularly since the President had set a target for the deliberation of the required government regulations (PP) and presidential regulations (Perpres) of within three months of the law’s passage.

Donny added that the government would involve members of the public in discussions of the regulations.

“The drafting team will definitely invite scholars, public figures, civil society organizations as well as other figures who are able to contribute their input for the regulations,” he said as quoted by tempo.co.

The House, which passed the omnibus bill on job creation into law on Oct. 5, has officially submitted the final draft of the law to Jokowi.

House secretary-general Indra Iskandar submitted the 812-page final draft to the office of State Secretary Pratikno at the Presidential Palace complex on Wednesday afternoon.

Previously, three different versions of the law – 1,035, 1,052 and 905 pages respectively – had circulated in the public and added to the controversy surrounding the contentious law.

The 905-page draft was the one used by the House to pass the bill into law on Oct. 5, both House Deputy Speaker Azis Syamsuddin and Indra Iskandar confirmed.

Azis Syamsuddin said on Tuesday that the law would belong to the public after the House handed it over to the President. The Golkar Party politician also said the House had not changed any substantial content in the draft and said that changes were only made to font and page size. (rfa/dpk)

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