Legislators seek to stop deliberation on mining bill

Some legislators are trying to put on hold the deliberation process of the Mineral and Coal Mining Bill, citing that the bill proposed by the government had unclear ?vision and mission?.

Sonny Keraf of the PDI-Perjuangan faction said that almost all of the factions at the special committee for the deliberation of the bill agreed that the deliberation process of the bill should be put on hold until after the government submitted the Natural Resources Development Draft Law.

?The factions want the deliberations on the (Mineral and Coal Mining Bill) to be carried out after the deliberation on the Natural Resources Development Draft Law,? he said.

He further noted that the factions did not feel happy with the mining bill proposed by the government because it mostly aimed to accommodate the interests of investors rather than the local communities.

However, Agusman Effendi from the Golkar faction said the deliberation of the mining bill was progressing.

He said the special committee for the bill was still in the phase of collecting inputs from the stakeholders of the mining industry on how to make the local communities to benefit from mining operations in their respective areas. The special committee has also asked all factions at the House of Representatives to list their proposals to improve the bill. (godang)