Judicial Review of Job Creation Law: Constitutional Court Faces Stakes Over National Agrarian Fate

The judicial review process of Law Number 6 of 2023 on Job Creation at the Constitutional Court (MK) has entered a crucial phase. The Committee of Constitutional Rights Defenders (KEPAL) has officially finalized its legal arguments, emphasizing that the agrarian cluster in the regulation contains constitutional flaws that threaten the public's fundamental rights to land.

The main focus centers on the existence of the Land Bank Agency and the Right to Manage (HPL) scheme. Activists assess that this agency no longer stands on the spirit of agrarian reform, but has instead transformed into a legal instrument for corporations to control community lands. Testimony from a government expert during the hearing stating that the Land Bank operates with a profit orientation has further reinforced public concern over a clear potential conflict of interest.

Dewi Kartika, Secretary General of the Consortium for Agrarian Reform (KPA), highlighted the return of a colonial paradigm through the interpretation of the State's Right to Control (HMN). According to her, the mechanism applied by the Land Bank tends to degrade community ownership rights into mere rights of use vulnerable to eviction, ultimately triggering legal uncertainty at the grassroots level.

Furthermore, the expansion of the meaning of 'public interest' in National Strategic Projects (PSN) has been criticized as a loophole facilitating the seizure of living spaces for investment ambitions. Experts warn that if this regulation is allowed to stand, national food sovereignty will be threatened as farmers, fishermen, and indigenous communities become increasingly marginalized from access to their own land and water resources.

Now, the public awaits a firm stance from the constitutional judges during the Justices' Deliberative Meeting (RPH). The upcoming ruling is expected to restore the dignity of Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution, where land must be treated as an asset for the prosperity of the people, rather than a business commodity legitimizing evictions in the name of the state.