Economist Slams Jokowi on Mining Permits for Foreign Investors; Warns of Separatist Movement Possibility
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6 May 2024 17:29 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A senior economist from the University of Indonesia (UI) Faisal Basri slammed President Joko Widodo or Jokowi's regime for granting mining permits to foreign investors.
According to him, this could trigger conflicts that lead to separatist movements in areas experiencing environmental damage due to massive exploitation. “In that situation, there would be no other way than a referendum,” he said while attending a discussion of the film Bloody Nickel at Ismail Marzuki Park on Saturday, May 4, 2024.
In simple terms, an independence referendum is a political step where the people of a region vote to decide whether their territory becomes sovereign or remains a part of another country.
The Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF) researcher proposed that Jokowi also be tried for causing various environmental damage in mining regions. He touched on the option of an Extraordinary Military Court trial to bring Jokowi to justice because “he has caused over thousand of trillions of environmental losses”.
The Extraordinary Military Court is a judicial body within the military authorized to decide on special cases that have a major impact on the country. Central figures of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) were tried in this court for treason.
Furthermore, Faisal also said that foreign investors were the ones who benefited the most from mining in Indonesia. He estimated that as much as 90 percent of profits from the domestic nickel industry belong to Chinese entrepreneurs. "Almost all companies (in the nickel industry) are from China, the (mining) profits will also be for China," he said.
Faisal also doubted elect-president Prabowo Subianto to bring change to this situation. According to him, the steps taken by Prabowo regarding mining are most likely a continuation of Jokowi's political stance. "We cannot trust Prabowo if he still has relations with the mining miscreant; Jokowi," he said.
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