Jakarta – Indonesian Trade Union Congress Alliance Confederation (KASBI) Chairperson Nining Elitos says that Government Regulation in Lieu of Law (Perppu) Number 2/2022 on the Job Creation Law (Ciptaker) that was recently issued by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo is nothing more than a manipulation of the public by the government.
Elitos said that the Perppu is like a change of clothes for Law Number 11/2020 on Job Creation, which was declared conditional unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court in 2021.
A number of the problematic articles that were questioned by civil society groups are still contained in the new Perppu. "It's just a change of clothes", Elitos told CNN Indonesia on Sunday January 1.
Elitos also believes that the Perppu was not issued in the interests of the ordinary people, but rather to serve the interests of certain groups.
According to Elitos, if the government had listened to the people, the problematic articles in the Omnibus Law should have been annulled or revised in the Perppu. "This is a manipulation", she said.
In addition to this, Elitos believes that the Perppu contains articles that are inconstant with one another. She gave the example of Articles 184 and 185.
Under Article 185 for example, it states that after the Perppu comes into effect, then Law Number 11/2022 on Job Creation shall be revoked and declared invalid.
"With this Government Regulation in Lieu of Law coming into effect, Law Number 11/2020 on Job Creation (State Gazette of the Republic of Indonesia 2o20 Number 245, Supplement to the State Gazette of the Republic of Indonesia Number 6573) shall be revoked and declared invalid", reads article 185.
Under Article 184b however, it says that the stipulations of Law Number 11/2020 remain in effect as long as they do not conflict with the Perppu on Job Creation.
Article 184b reads, "All legislation which represents implementary regulations based on Law Number 11/2020 on Job Creation remain in effect as long as they do not conflict with this Government Regulation in Lieu of Law".
"[So] Article 185 is a manipulation. It's pretty odd, right", said Elitos.
Upon reading the contents of the Perppu, Elitos is of the view that the government acted in a haphazard fashion and was chasing a deadline by issuing the Perppu.
The reason being that after the Constitutional Court ruling declared the Omnibus Law conditionally unconstitutional, the government was ordered to revise the law within two years. If this was not done, then the law would be formally flawed.
"I see that there is a move so that legal products produced by the government are not formally flawed, so a Perppu was issued. Yet what was demanded by workers was the cancellation of the Ciptaker Law, not implementing what was in the law", she explained.
Earlier, President Widodo issued a Perppu to replace the Job Creation Law that was declared conditionally unconstitutional through Constitutional Court Ruling Number 91/PUU-XVIII/2020 in November 2021.
The Perppu was said to have been issued based on considerations related to the global economic crisis that needed an immediate response, one of which was the impact of the Russian-Ukrainian war. (yla/DAL)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Aliansi Buruh: Perppu Ciptaker Manipulatif, 'Ganti Baju' Omnibus Law".]
