President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Tuesday sought advice from noted legal expert and former Justice Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra on ways in which to ease a much criticized 2009 law on raw minerals and coal that will ban exports of the commodities next month.
“The president said, ‘Mr. Yusril, please try to tell the related institutions about how to overcome this condition, and hopefully it can be solved,’” Yusril told journalists at the Presidential Office. “Meaning, how could this rule be softened a bit so that it doesn’t cause a greater loss to our country?”
According to the state-run Antara news agency, Yusril said that if the ban took effect, projects could stall and companies could have difficulty repaying debt taken to build the smelters since many of them have yet to be completed.
The law, which will take effect on Jan 12, prohibits the exports of raw minerals and demands that companies process their minerals domestically.
“If these [smelter projects] are halted, the projects will become stagnant, credit will not be paid back… and unemployment will occur,” he was quoted by Antara as saying after meeting with the president.
He added that he has accepted the president’s demand, even though time is running out.
The law has been widely criticized, especially by smaller mining companies.
The Indonesian Mineral Miners Association (Apemindo) on Monday said in an open letter to the president, the government and the legislative, that the implementation of the 2009 law may lead to the bankruptcy of thousands of companies and affect some 40 million people, including workers and their families.
They argued that in order to comply and build costly smelters, they would also need more sources of power and related infrastructure, including roads.
Yusril said that what could be done in a short time is to modify government regulations, adding that that option was being considered.
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