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Indonesia: Minimum wage, working hours among issues discussed in omnibus bill: Minister
The government is looking to reform five issues in the current Labor Law that some say have deterred investment into the country through an omnibus bill on job creation.
Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah said the bill was still being discussed at the Coordinating Economic Ministry and that the discussions were expected to conclude next week so the draft could be brought to the House of Representatives for deliberation.
“Basically, we are only focusing on five issues including minimum wage, severance pay and working hours, among other things,” Ida told reporters after attending the Cabinet’s first meeting this year at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Monday.
For the planned omnibus law on job creation, the government had identified 1,194 articles in 82 laws that would be amended to accommodate one of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s top priorities: attracting investment in order to create more jobs.
The job creation bill would touch on 11 clusters of issues, including simpler licensing procedures and labor and land procurement.
Furthermore, the government is also planning to introduce an omnibus law on taxation, which will effectively lower corporate income tax from the current 25 percent to 20 percent by 2023. It would also lower tax penalties, ease income tax regulations for expatriates and work toward taxing multinational digital firms that have no physical presence in Indonesia yet benefit from activities in the Indonesian market, among other things.
Jokowi on Monday called on his ministers to conclude the job creation omnibus bill, setting a deadline of next week for them to complete the formulation process.
“[I ask the ministers that] the omnibus law [draft] can be finished this week [or] by next week at the latest,” he said. (mrc/awa)
Source: https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/01/06/minimum-wage-working-hours-among-issues-discussed-in-omnibus-bill-minister.html