TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Bahlil Lahadalia explains the uproar over the revocation of mining permits as well as the alleged extortion of money and shares in exchange for reinstatement of the permits.

In his distinct data-style, Bahlil Lahadalia entered the living room of the Investment Minister’s official residence in Kuningan, Jakarta, on Friday, March 22. He greeted and shook hands with a Tempo team who had just arrived.

Bahlil and Tempo met that evening to follow up on the recommendation of the Press Council. On March 14, Bahlil filed a complaint about Tempo’s investigative coverage titled Bahlil’s Nickel Connection. This report revealed Bahlil’s authority as the Head of the Investment Acceleration Task Force and the Land Use and Investment Management Task Force to revoke and reinstate mining and plantation business licenses.

Bahlil has revoked over 2,000 permits until January 2024 since the task force was revived via a presidential decree in 2021. In Tempo’s coverage, mining businesses claimed they were asked to pay Rp5 to 25 billion (around US$315,000 to 1.5 million) by people close to Bahlil if they wanted their permits reinstated. Some entrepreneurs even went so far as to say that Bahlil himself had asked for shares.

On March 18, the Press Council ruled that the news coverage had followed the journalistic code of ethics but noted that the information that read “Minister Bahlil revoked thousands of nickel permits” was incorrect. The word “thousands” should have been “hundreds” as Bahlil had only revoked 109 nickel mining permits.

Given the inaccuracy, the Press Council asked Tempo to publish Minister Bahlil’s right of reply and to apologize to the minister. Bahlil instead opted for an interview as a form of right of reply to clarify the content of the article. Before the March 4-10 edition was published, Tempo reporters tried seven times to contact him for confirmation. However, Bahlil was willing to meet just once for a brief interview.

Therefore, after the sunset prayer that evening, Bahlil sat down at the kitchen table in his official residence to answer questions from Tempo reporters. The interview was also broadcast on the Bocor Alus Politik podcast on YouTube.

What is the background of revoking thousands of mining and plantation business permits?

When I joined the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), there were unrealized investments worth Rp708 trillion (today around US$44.5 billion). I had to resolve it. The BKPM could not do it alone due to land issues, regional licensing, and so on. This problem is like a ghost that must be solved by someone who has been a ghost.

How much of it have you cleared?

Almost Rp600 trillion (US$37.7 billion) worth of investments. One of the results is the Lotte Chemical Indonesia project in Cilegon, Banten. That’s the result of the work of the Investment Acceleration Task Force formed via Presidential Decree No. 11/2021. I want to say that there is no relation between the revoked mining permits (IUPs) and the investment acceleration task force.

Aren’t non-productive IUPs also considered stalled investments?

Non-productive IUPs are not among the Rp708 trillion stalled investments but rather investors who came to invest but could not execute their plans.

President Joko Widodo gave you such tremendous authority to lead the Land Use and Investment Management Task Force via Presidential Decree No. 1/2022. What are its tasks?

The duty of this task force is to document non-productive and unused land. The reasoning is that these mines belong to the state. The state gives permits to entrepreneurs to do business so that they can help create jobs and drive economic growth.

Our investigation found that the task force you led revoked 2,078 mining permits. That’s massive. How did you select them?

They are sorted and identified by the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry as a technical ministry. So, it has nothing to do with the Investment Ministry and the task force. All of the 2,078 permits are in the Energy Ministry’s database. We also have the land data from the Environment and Forestry Ministry that knows their locations and sizes. All of them are with the technical ministries.

With the power to revoke and reinstate the permits, your authority is very broad...

In January 2022, the technical ministries informed the President that the government would revoke forest concession permits for around three million hectares, 2,078 IUPs and 300,000 to 400,000 cultivation rights. That was before the task force existed. The task force was formed for the revocation process. I canceled the permits on behalf of the technical ministries. So, if I canceled an IUP, I did it on behalf of the Energy Ministry.

Read the Full Interview in Tempo English Magazine