The Government through the Ministry of Finance continues to develop the policy on determining tax collection in digital transactions on products and services sold to customers in Indonesia. Three months after it was officially implemented, as of the last week the number of companies obliged to collect Value Added Tax (PPN) has gone up to 36 companies with eight new companies added to the list.

The labor unions’ strikes and rallies against the enactment of the Omnibus Bill on Job Creation ended last week. It left behind destroyed public facilities and hundreds of detained, suspected provocateurs. A day after the riot, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo held a press conference and invited those who rejected the new Law to submit a Judicial Review to the Constitutional Court. His statement did little to appease the labor unions seeking to overturn the new Law with a Government Regulation in Lieu of a Law (Perppu). The Government has rejected this mechanism. 

Ten months after it was exposed by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), the investigation into the corruption in Sidoarjo is finally over. Earlier this week, the Panel of Judges at the Corruption Court of the Surabaya District Court read its decisions for the bribees, including the disgraced Regent of Sidoarjo Saiful Ilah.

The controversial Omnibus Bill on Job Creation was passed into Law in a Plenary Meeting held on Oct. 5, 2020. Various elements of society, led by the labor unions, will continue to rally in rejection of the new Law. The Government, however, is not budging. The new Law mandates the creation of 40 technical regulations to implement the Law. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has asked for the said derivative regulations to be completed in just one month.

On October 6, 2020, an article published in a local media outlet mentioned that the Central Jakarta District Court had granted the lawsuit filed by Qatar National Bank (QNB) against Aksa Mahmud and his family. But we know the news is not true. There is a lawsuit, but the lawsuit was only registered at the Central Jakarta District Court on October 5, 2020. The article in question was deleted a few hours after it was published, but it’s too late. Allegations followed.

Nearly two years ago we witnessed how the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) uncovered corruption related to the Meikarta township project. The project is being developed by PT Lippo Cikarang Tbk (LPCK) through its subsidiary PT Mahkota Sentosa Utama (PT MSU). Before the case was exposed, PT MSU had already faced two PKPU lawsuits. In the middle of the inquisition process, PT MSU had to face a default lawsuit, but again the Company managed to escape. The investigation and prosecution process into the corruption case was completed earlier this year, but the problem has not been resolved for PT MSU. In the past two days the Commercial Court of the Central Jakarta District Court received two lawsuits against PT MSU. So the Company has been sued five times in a period of two years.

A week ago we reported that Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani and former Minister of State-Owned Enterprises Rini Soemarno were mentioned in a follow-up hearing on the corruption case involving PT Asuransi Jiwasraya (Persero). Hary Prasetyo, the former finance director, had tried to assign the blame on the two ministers. There are more to the defense plea conveyed by the other defendants that we need to note. 

Towards the end of October 2019, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in his first second-term speech noted five targets that he’d like to achieve. One of them is simplifying various regulatory constraints. The Government, said Jokowi, would invite the House of Representatives to make two large-caliber laws that will later become Omnibus Laws—laws that are issued with various objectives and at the same time, revise many other relevant laws. Nearly a year later, despite so many refusals, the controversial Omnibus Bill on Job Creation was passed into Law in a Plenary Meeting held on Oct. 5, 2020.

The Minister of State-Owned Enterprises Erick Thohir stated his plan to dissolve 14 State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) as a form of transformation and downsizing of BUMN. This was conveyed by the special staff to the Minister one Arya Sinulingga in a virtual discussion held on September 28, 2020. Several days after that, the notorious lawmaker Andre Rosiade of Gerindra mentioned several names of companies to be liquidated including PT Merpati Nusantara Airlines (Persero) and PT Kertas Leces ( Persero). The news was widely circulated, but for us this is not surprising. The companies mentioned have been in trouble for a long time.

It has been a while since the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) said it would focus on the alleged use of the mining licensing process as a means of corruption, including to obtain political campaign funds. We have seen many regional leaders convicted of abusing their authority and because of this certain regions have received the KPK’s special attention. This year, the KPK conducted its supervision in East Kalimantan and the result shows that abuse of authority is still happening.