Bahlil on Mining Permits for Mass Organisations After Constitutional Court Ruling: Nothing Annulled, No Problem

Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Minister Bahlil Lahadalia has emphasised that the Constitutional Court’s (MK) ruling regarding the granting of Mining Business Permits (IUP) to cooperatives, mass organisations, and universities encourages the government to draft implementing regulations in a more transparent and accountable manner. According to Bahlil, the ruling also stipulates that priority can still be given to cooperatives, but not through a direct appointment mechanism. “In the MK decision, it is stated that the priority still exists. The appointment is not automatic; there must be a mechanism and regulations, so we will create the derivative rules,” Bahlil told reporters at the Presidential Palace complex in Central Jakarta on Monday. Bahlil stated that the government will draft a ministerial regulation or a ministerial decree as an implementing rule to ensure the priority granting process adheres to principles of good governance. He clarified that the ruling does not retroactively cancel permits that have already been issued. “It does not annul anything. None of the articles tested were struck down. So there is no problem,” he said. The Constitutional Court officially ruled that the granting of Mining Business Permits to religious mass organisations cannot be done through a direct appointment mechanism.