The Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam) joins a group of mining experts and activists who have objected to the government’s decision to issue a government regulation that grant mining permits to religious mass organizations. The network accuses the granting of permits to the mass organization of politically motivated.
“The series of policies and regulations, including Government Regulation Number 25/2024, should be read as a payback for political supporters on the one hand, and an effort to maintain political influence after [President Joko Widodo] stepping down in October 2024 on the other,” Melky Nahar, Coordinaor of Jatam, said in a statement on Tuesday, June 4, 2024.
The Joko “Jokowi” Widodo administration’s discourse on granting mining business permits (IUP) to religious mass organisations appeared for the first time in 2023, exactly four months before the February 14, 2024 General Elections. The discourse is stipulated in Article 2 of Presidential Regulation No. 70/2023 on Land Allocation for Investment Arrangements. This Presidential Regulation was signed by President Jokowi on October 16, 2023. Then, five months before the 2024 Simultaneous Regional Election, Government Regulation No. 25/2024 was signed by Jokowi, which then paved the way for religious organizations to do mining activities.
“Government Regulation No. 25/2024 which amends previous Government Regulation No. 96/2021 on the Implementation of Mineral and Coal Mining Activities, reflects the greedy character of the Jokowi administration,” Melky said.
He said further that Government Regulation No. 25/2024 is just one of a series of policies of the Jokowi regime in selling natural resources, consciously tinkering with regulations just to make the policies look legal, while providing legal guarantees for the interests of mining businessmen.
He cited the revision of the Mineral and Coal Mining Law and the ratification of the Job Creation Law as providing a red carpet for mining businesses.
Jatam has noted that the number of mining licences in Indonesia reaching nearly eight thousand, with concession areas reaching more than 10 million hectares. In its operation, mining not only obliterates food and water space, and disrupts health of people living in the surrounding areas, but has also triggered fatalities.
These mining operations have further left behind toxic pits. JATAM noted that there are more than eighty thousand mining pits that have been left gaping without rehabilitation in Indonesia. These mining pits have become mass killing machines. In East Kalimantan, for example, 49 people, mostly children, have died. These cases are left unchecked, without law enforcement.
Jatam, therefore, urges the religious mass organizations to firmly reject the mining concessions granted by the governmenti.
“What is urgent at present is to conduct a comprehensive evaluation and recovery of social-ecological impacts, as well as strict law enforcement for a series of humanitarian and environmental crimes by mining corporations,” Melky said.
