Indonesia’s outgoing parliament has decided to hold off passing a slate of new mining and land reform bills, that have been criticised as being pro-business and anti-environment. The legislators had signalled they would pass the bills, including one on mining and one on land reform, on the final day of their term in office on Sept. 30. Both of those bills have been heavily criticised for favouring the interest of companies in the extractives sector over those of the environment and vulnerable rural communities, including indigenous groups struggling to maintain already tenuous land rights. None of the bills were passed, however, amid protests in Jakarta and other cities across the nation led by university students incensed at the earlier passage of a bill widely seen as gutting the much-lauded national anti-corruption agency. The protests had prompted President Joko Widodo to earlier ask parliament to suspend deliberations of the contentious bills.

Posted by

Eco-business