Singgih Wiryono, Jakarta – Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) Chairperson Muhammad Isnur says that the drafting of the Draft Law on Healthcare (RUU Kesehatan) is almost the same as the Omnibus Law on Job Creation (Cipta Kerja).
According to Isnur, the similarity can be seen from a test of the academic context, which like the Jobs Law is unable to be seen. "Should we say it’s a fake, yeah the academic manuscript is fake", he said.
Isnur said that the initial study or academic manuscript used in the drafting of the Draft Health Law was written carelessly and it has no legitimacy. It therefore has no authority to be reasonably called an academic manuscript as a basis for drafting a law.
"For example, in the research methodology it quotes several specialists or experts whose books are outdated, their books have even been revised by the authors themselves", said Isnur.
Isnur noted that the health bill will result in the reevaluation of policies in other laws, yet the references in the academic manuscript are unclear, including who did the research for it.
"We also do not know at all who drafted this. How can this be accountable as an academic manuscript if we don't know who wrote it", he said.
Therefore, the YLBHI along with 42 other civil society groups are asking that the ratification of the health bill be postponed.
Aside from the reason that the academic manuscript is similar to Jobs Law, several concerns were raised by the Civil Society Coalition such as the deliberations on the law which were closed and without meaningful public participation.
The other reason is the weakness of the argument that the health bill is urgent and therefore needs to use the omnibus law method.
The law is also seen as tending to lead towards the liberalisation of the health system, expanding the privatisation of health services and will eliminate the minimum allocation for the health budget.
The centralisation of healthcare management by the central government is also considered to reduce independent learning and development in the health sector.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "YLBHI: RUU Kesehatan Bodong Naskah Akademiknya, seperti UU Cipta Kerja".]
