Golkar: It would be strange if President Jokowi did not sign the Employment Creation Law

Bisnis.com, JAKARTA – DPR Legislative Body (Baleg) Firman Soebagyo is optimistic that President Joko Widodo or Jokowi will sign the Job Creation Act after 30 days from its completion, considering that the legislative product is a government initiative.

“I am optimistic that there will be no problem and it will be signed and effective in 30 days from tomorrow,” he said when contacted by Bisnis on Monday (12/10/2020).

He said it was strange that a bill initiated by the government was not signed by the president.

He made this statement considering that the president has the authority to issue a Government Regulation instead of a Law (Perppu) if he rejects the Employment Creation Law.

The Glkar Party politician said that according to the mechanism, once the bill is signed into law, it will take DPR seven days to reread the law before presenting it to the president.

Before being signed, he said, the law must be initialized by the secretary of state on what the DPR has approved.

State law observer Amsar Feri previously said that there is still a possibility that the Employment Creation Law will not be signed by the president as a form of head of government who disagrees, although it will basically not invalidate the law. So the 30-day deadline is just a gimmick.

However, that does not mean that a law passed by DPR cannot be canceled. The Job Creation Law could be canceled if Jokowi issued a Government Regulation instead of a law (Perppu).

“We can learn from Pak SBY (Sixth President of the Republic of Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono). The Pilkada Law during the Pak SBY era when local elections were about to return to DPRD elections, the president listened to the aspirations of rejection of the society at that time, then the president issued a perppu canceling the Pilkada Law, “said Feri.

However, Feri is not very sure that Jokowi will not sign him. Last year, the Corruption Eradication Commission Law, which was an initiative of the DPR, was passed by the DPR, in the end the law was also valid without a Perppu of Jokowi. Now, the Employment Creation Law has also been approved by DPR and a government initiative.

“We can see to what extent the president can become president of the people, not president of interests, whether he dares to issue a perppu or not,” Feri said.