Recently, the Indonesian public has been shocked by the draft work of the Omnibus Bill on Job Creation / RUU Cipta Kerja. The Job Creation Bill consists of 15 chapters and 174 articles in a total of 1,028 pages.
At a glance, the spirit of RUU Cipta Kerja aims to create jobs for the society (Article 3 of RUU Cipta Kerja). This spirit is aimed at the midst of "increasingly competitive competition and global economic demands".
The spirit to "simplify various laws and regulations" in one law has long been a public discourse. Amid the anxiety over the "chaotic" overlapping regulations, selfish stakeholders. Not to mention the technical regulations which make it difficult to apply for a permit in Indonesia.
The Job Creation Bill then became a public discourse when President Jokowi later used the term "omnibus law". "Omnibus Law" aims to simplify the legislation in one regulation.
"Omnibus Law" was later found in the RUU Cipta Kerja which later identified 74 Laws in one single regulation (Kompas, 12 February 2020).
Hukumonline quotes the "Merriam-Webster Law Dictionary" as saying "omnibus law" comes from the word "omnibus bill". Laws covering various issues or topics. "Omnis" comes from Latin which means everything. The concept of "omnibus law" has been applied by a number of countries including the US. Since 1840.
Therefore, the "omnibus law" in RUU Cipta Kerja aims to resolve the "chaotic" overlapping regulations, selfish stakeholders or technical regulations that make it difficult for investors to invest in Indonesia.
The spirit of perspective to fix licensing in Indonesia can be seen in the academic draft of the Job Creation Bill which states "Regulatorion arrangement will create ease of business and increase of quality investment in Indonesia".
Thus the "enthusiasm" to fix licensing in Indonesia in one regulation (omnibus law) can be accepted.
But juridical problems then arise. If examined further, it raises problems in the formal and material levels that are regulated in the Job Creation Bill.
From a formal approach, the process of filing the Job Creation Bill never involved public participation at all. It was then "present" in the parliament in an instant manner. Just like the Genie from Aladdin's lamp.
While actually public participation is needed to provide input in order to produce laws that are democratic, aspirational, participatory and responsive / populist in character. Participation, transparency and democratization in the discussion of legislation is a unified whole and cannot be separated as a democratic state (Mahfud, 2011).
The public as not being involved in the process of drafting the Job Creation Bill then resulted in rejection from various stakeholders.
The labors rejected the argumentation of the Job Creation Bill which will abolish the regency / city minimum wage, the elimination of severance pay, the existence of a work contract for a specified time limit (outsourcing), the elimination of criminal acts against companies that violated labor regulations and social abolition. (Kompas, 9 March 2020).
In fact, all of the above provisions in addition to protecting the interests and fate of workers governed by Law no. 13 of 2003 (UU No. 13/2003). As well as providing certainty for violations of trade union freedoms provided for in the Law No. 21 of 2000 concerning trade unions (UU No. 21/2000). Even Law No. 13/2003 is also known as the "crown" of the fate of labor workers after the reformasi period in 1999.