Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat delivering a keynote speech at a national seminary by the East Luwu Regency, Friday (2/25/2022). Photo by Humas MK/Hendy.

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Saturday, February 26, 2022 | 09:39 WIB

EAST LUWU, Public Relations—The signing of the digital memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Constitutional Court (MK) and the Regional Government (Pemkab) of East Luwu on the constitution awareness program for the citizens (PPHKWN) took place on Friday, February 25, 2022 at the Pemkab’s hall in East Luwu, South Sulawesi.

Secretary-General M. Guntur Hamzah and East Luwu Regent Budiman signed the MoU digitally before Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat and public officials of East Luwu, who attended the event onsite and virtually.

Management of Natural Resources

The signing was followed by a keynote speech by Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat, who talked about the importance of the management of natural resources for the people’s welfare.

“The management of natural resources in Indonesia must be accountable to God Almighty. The gift of the wealth of natural resources in Indonesia is by the grace of God Almighty, Allah SWT. Therefore, the nickel mineral resources and marine resources of East Luwu must be properly managed. [It is] for the prosperity of the people and at the same time must be accountable to God Almighty,” he said.

He added that in the 1970s Indonesia experienced an extraordinary oil surplus. It is one of the exporters of oil in the OPEC. However, were the citizens at that time prosperous? While the oil has run out, the Indonesian people have not yet experienced prosperity.

Then in the 1980s, Indonesia’s forest resources were extraordinary but cleared for export. However, it benefitted only a handful of Indonesians. Approaching 1990 until today, Indonesia has extraordinary natural wealth in the form of coal, which is exported to South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, China, whose industries have grown tremendously because of coal from Indonesia. Meanwhile, the welfare of the Indonesian people has not increased optimally.

“The only thing that we can still spare for our children and grandchildren in the future is Indonesia’s marine resources. I am very optimistic that marine resources will continue to be maintained and will be used for the prosperity of the people,” he said.

Constitutional Court Decisions on Natural Resources

After the presentation by Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat, a national seminar on “The Management of Natural Resources Based on Pancasila Values and the 1945 Constitution” was held by the Court in collaboration with the East Luwu Regency government. Secretary-General M. Guntur Hamzah and Sebelas Maret University (UNS) law professor I Gusti Ayu Ketut Rachmi Handayani were in attendance. Head of the Public Relations and National Affairs Department Fajar Laksono Soeroso moderated the seminar.

Guntur said that debates on Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution on natural resources often happened when the article is manifested at operational levels. How to interpret the state’s control over the earth, water, and natural resources within? How can the state translate them to the people’s welfare? Past cases in Indonesia should provide lessons. However, oil, forest, and coal are running out, but did not have positive impacts on the people’s welfare.

“When in fact, there are no poor countries; there are only those that mismanage natural resources. The management [of natural resources] must be done well in order to affect the people’s welfare,” Guntur said in his presentation on “The Principles of Constitutional Policy in Natural Resource Management.”

In this context, Guntur said, the Court had issued many decisions on natural resources. For example, in Decision No. 002/PUU-1/2003 on the Oil and Gas Law, the Court ruled that there are production branches that are significant for the state and control the lives of many people, those that are significant for the state but do not control the lives of many people, and those that are not as significant for the state but control the lives of many people.

“How the technical operation should be? There are production branches that are significant for the state and control the lives of many people. The question is, who would judge whether those branches are important? Who would judge whether they control the lives of many people? The Constitutional Court’s decisions have set signs for how to judge them,” Guntur said.

He explained that the criterion of importance is determined by the government and the people’s representatives.

“What does this mean? The central government, the president, and the House of Representatives determine laws. Meanwhile, the regent and the Regional Legislative Council determine the regional regulations. These are the signs the Court provided,” he added.

Strategic Resources

I Gusti Ayu Ketut Rachmi said in her presentation that the management of natural resources following Article 33 paragraph (3) of the 1945 Constitution where the state must be present.

“Strategic resources are still controlled by the state, but third parties including private companies are allowed to manage them. However, the management follows the legislation and the decisions by judges in relation to the management of natural resources,” Ayu said.

She added that the management of natural resources is based on Law No. 32 of 2009 on the Protection and Management of the Environment. Article 1 point 9 of Law No. 32 of 2009 stipulates that “Natural Resources shall be environmental elements such as biological and nonbiological resources that overall create a unified ecosystem.”

She also said that in the 18th century, Indonesia still held on to the notion of environmental justice, which focuses on justice for living organisms—humans, animals, and plants.

“Meanwhile, on the other hand, living organisms coexist with non-living organisms around them. This means that without water, the air, minerals, etc. we cannot live well. An ideal justice is a balance between justice for living organisms and for non-living organisms around them,” Ayu said.

Ayu further added that the goal of Indonesia is prosperity for the people. This can be realized through ecological justice, which already exist in the values of Pancasila, especially the second and fifth precepts.

“Therefore, if we learn in detail, the precepts in Pancasila are already extraordinary in maintaining the natural resources of the Indonesian nation,” she stressed. 

Writer        : Nano Tresna Arfana
Editor        : Nur R.
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 3/1/2022 21:10 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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