The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) has planned to create the post of Director General of Law Enforcement in view of rampant unlawful mining operations.
Bahlil Lahadalia, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resource said there were so many violations such as mining in corridor , and mining that are not in accordance with the norm of initial documents in the management of Indonesia natural resource such as mining ,oil and gas .
“There are mining operations that are not in accordance with the norms stipulated in the original document. There are cases of outdated permits. There are also cases of overlapping permits, which have so far been settled through the State administrative court (PTUN),” ESDM Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said on Friday, October 18, 2024.
The Director General of Law Enforcement has the authority to enforce the law and regulation as well conduct an investigation. Currently, the investigators do not come from the ESDM ministry and consequently lead to many problems in law enforcement. In the future, the investigators will come from within the ministry who understand mining maps, oil and gas industry issues as well as permit and tenders.
The idea of establishing the post of Director General of Law Enforcement has secured approval from Mining Affairs Commission VII of the House of Representative.
“The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources should have a law enforcement agency, just like the Ministry of Environment and Forestry,” Commission VII Chairman Sugeng Suparwoto said as quoted by the ministry.
According to Sugeng, the Directorate General of Law Enforcement will have full authority to take firm action against law violators.
“The concept for the establishment of Directorate General of Law Enforcement at he ESDM ministry had been submitted to the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reforms and the Ministry of Law and Human Rights. But then there was tug of war in the process. At the end of the day, it did not materialize,” Sugeng said.
