TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Vice President Jusuf Kalla has again explained the reasons behind the government’s decision to issue the Presidential Decree No. 20 Year 2018 on the Employment of Foreign Workers. Kalla said the decree was aimed at easing the licensing process for foreign workers.

Kalla said that previously foreign workers in Indonesia were obliged to renew their permits every six months, and that they had to travel abroad to arrange for their new permits.

This procedure is exhaustive, so most of them opt to move to other countries, such as Singapore, Vietnam and others,” he said at the Police Staff College in Jakarta on Friday, March 4, 2015.

Kalla said the new decree would give permits to foreign workers according to their work periods. For example, he went on, if a worker would work in the country for two years, then he or she would be given a two-year permit.

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Kalla said streamlined licensing process would boost investments and stimulate the country’s economic growth.

Aside from trouble-free licensing, Kalla said another reason behind the issuance of the presidential decree pertained to security reasons. “So we hope the police and military would give a sense of security so Indonesia’s economy is progressing,” he said.

The issuance of the presidential decree has reaped criticisms from multiple parties on worries that it would reduce work fields for Indonesians.

Read: Jusuf Kalla Quipped about Negative Sentiment on Foreign Workers

Ombudsman commissioner for supervision of natural resources, workforce and employee affairs, Laode Ida, has said the decree is prone to discrimination against Indonesians. “While Indonesian workers don’t have a decree,” he said on Wednesday.

Constitutional law expert Yusril Ihza Mahendra, meanwhile, is gearing up to petition the decree at the Supreme Court. Yusril said the decree was detrimental to local workers. “We will fight at the Supreme Court, we will fight against it legally and constitutionally,” he said.

VINDRY FLORENTIN