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View all search resultsThe right call on mining permits
By ruling against executive discretion in mining permits, the Constitutional Court has drawn a long-overdue line between public wealth and political favoritism.
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An aerial photo taken on May 6, 2024, shows a coal storage yard next to the Batanghari River in Muaro Jambi, Jambi, on May 6, 2024. (Antara/Wahdi Septiawan)
T
he Constitutional Court made it clear last Thursday that whoever benefits from Indonesia's mineral wealth must be decided by rules, not by discretion.
By declaring that the government cannot directly appoint recipients of mining permits, and that all allocations must undergo an objective, accountable selection process, the court has drawn a boundary that should have been established years ago.
This is a necessary and welcome ruling. No one is exempt from its logic: not religious organizations, not cooperatives, not small and medium enterprises (SMEs), not universities.
It will be misread in some quarters as an attack on religious groups or a blow to democratizing access to natural resources. It is neither. The court did not say that Nahdlatul Ulama, Muhammadiyah, a local cooperative or an SME has no place in the mining sector.
It asserted that nobody, however large their membership, however legitimate their social role, however worthy their economic case, should receive a mining permit simply because the government decides to hand them one.
Process matters as much as outcome, and a system reliant on executive preference rather than objective criteria remains an open invitation to political favoritism.
The direct appointment mechanism did not begin with this administration. In May 2024, then-president Joko "Jokowi" Widodo signed a government regulation granting religious groups the right to manage concession areas previously operated by major coal companies.
