Constitutional Justices Arief Hidayat, Saldi Isra, and Suhartoyo opening the petition revision hearing of the judicial review of Law No. 11 of 2020 on Job Creation, Tuesday (11/8/2021). Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

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Monday, November 8, 2021 | 21:24 WIB

JAKARTA, Public Relations—The Constitutional Court (MK) held another judicial review hearing of Law No. 11 of 2020 on Job Creation on Monday, November 8, 2021. The petition No. 55/PUU-XIX/2021 was filed by HAkA (Hutan, Alam dan Lingkungan Aceh/Forest, Nature, and Environment of Aceh) Foundation, represented Farwiza and colleagues.

At the hearing chaired by Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat, the Petitioner, represented by Harli, conveyed the revision to the Petitioner’s legal standing. The Petitioner explained that HAkA Foundation is a private legal entity, thus has legal standing to file the petition.

Harli added that in the posita, the Petitioner only wishes for Article 26 of Law No. 32 of 2009 before being amended by the Job Creation Law.

The Petitioner also changed the petitum, now requesting that the Court declare Article 22 point 5 of the Job Creation Law, which amends Article 26 of the Law on Environmental Protection and Management, unconstitutional.

“And not legally binding insofar as not interpreted as Article 26 on AMDAL documents as referred to in Article 22 prepared by the sponsors by involving the public. Public participation must be carried out based on the principle of providing transparent and complete information, and [the public must] be notified before activities are carried out. The community as referred to in paragraph (1) includes those affected, environmental observers, and/or those affected by all forms of decisions in the AMDAL process. The community as referred to in paragraph (1) can file an objection to the AMDAL document,” Harli explained.

Also read: Environmental NGO Challenges AMDAL Provision in Job Creation Law

The Petitioner argued that environmental organizations have a constitutional right to provide specific information about the environmental impact assessment (AMDAL) of certain projects. Moreover, they have involved in a regional AMDAL commission to provide their input. However, when the Job Creation Law was passed, public participation, including the Petitioner and community that are not directly affected, was eliminated. The Petitioner believes the elimination of the prerequisite community input to AMDAL documents, as referred to in Article 26 paragraph (3) of Law No. 32 of 2009, which has been amended by Article 22 point 5 of Law No. 11 of 2020, indicates the factual or potential loss of the Petitioner in preventing the environment against any damage due to big-scale projects where AMDAL is mandatory.

As Article 22 point 5 of Law No. 11 of 2020 on Job Creation will restrict the Petitioner’s involvement in preparing AMDAL and preserving the environment, the Petitioner requested in the petitum that the Court declare it unconstitutional and not legally binding insofar as not interpreted as “The preparation of the AMDAL document is carried out by involving the community freely and voluntarily to protect their interests and needs.”

Writer        : Utami Argawati
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR            : Raisa Ayudhita
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 11/9/2021 08:37 WIB

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian versions, the Indonesian version will prevail.

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