After being listed in the 2015-2019 National Legislative Program and discussed intensively for more than a year, on July 28, 2016, the House of Representatives (DPR) finally passed the Bill to Amend the Law No. 14/2001 on Patent. The Bill. which was proposed by the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, is broadly aimed at providing legal protection for inventions and thus support the investment climate.

The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) continues to examine the corruption case involving PT Pengembangan Armada Niaga Nasional (PANN) Pembiayaan Maritime (formerly known as PT PANN Maritime Finance). Last week, the AGO escalated the status of the case to inquisition stage, but a suspect has not been named.

The Panel of Judges of the Commercial Court of the Central Jakarta District Court has decided to endorse the peace agreement between PT Geo Cepu Indonesia (Geo Cepu, which is the partner of PT Pertamina EP) and its creditors. And so Geo Cepu manages to escape the period of Suspension of Debts Payment (PKPU) in just three months. One creditor, however, rejected the peace proposal and planned to file for an appeal.

PT Pertamina EP (PEP), a subsidiary of PT Pertamina (Persero), and PT Bank Mandiri (Persero) Tbk filed for a lawsuit at the Central Jakarta District Court to cancel the decision of the Indonesian National Arbitration Board (BANI). The BANI decision that’s the subject of this dispute is the decision that punished the two plaintiffs with the order to compensate their partners in the amount of US$19.3 million and the order to restore performance bond worth US$12.7 million. The two plaintiffs has since argued that the BANI decision does not have binding legal force because the partners are the ones who are in default.

On August 1, 2016 the Corruption Court of the Medan District Court in North Sumatera held the first hearing against the disgraced Governor of North Sumatera Gatot Pujo Nugroho on the allegation of the Gatot’s deliberate misuse of social assistance funds. This case is being investigated by the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) together with the North Sumatera High Court. At the hearing, the Public Prosecutors read out the indictment against Gatot.

On July 23, 2016, an offshore services provider Otto Marine Limited (SGX: G4F) announced that its shipyard subsidiary in Batam, PT Batamec Shipyard, had commenced proceedings in the High Court of Singapore and arrested a vessel named “Ratna Blessing”. The lawsuit was filed against RS Marine Investments Pte Ltd, the owner of the vessel, which reportedly failed to make payments for the services given by Batamec. On July 25, 2016, however, Otto Marine decided to release “Ratna Blessing”.

The creditors of PT Dwi Aneka Jaya Kemasindo Tbk (DAJK) provides another opportunity for the corrugated carton company to revise their peace proposals in the process of Suspension of Payment (PKPU). This decision was taken on the last meeting of creditors on July 28, 2016. DAJK initially requested for additional 90 days, but the creditors agreed to give additional 60 days for DAJK.

In just three months after officially entering the period of Suspension of Debts Payment (PKPU), the peace proposal draft presented by PT Geo Cepu Indonesia (Geo Cepu), the partner of PT Pertamina EP, was finally accepted by the majority of its creditors. With this result, Geo Cepu only has to wait for the decision of the Panel of Judges at the Commercial Court of Central Jakarta District Court to come to terms with its creditors and to be free from PKPU.

Simultaneously with the issuance of the Regulation of the Minister of Manpower (Permenaker) No. 20/2016 on administrative sanctions for employers, the Ministry of Manpower also issued Permenaker No. 21/2016 on the Decent Standard of Living (KHL) Index. As with any other rules governing the rights and obligations of workers, the Permenaker 21/2016 sparked a negative reaction at the grass root level.