Sifting through the noise around Indonesia’s omnibus bill

Unravel, 3 Nov 2020: Sifting through the noise around Indonesia’s omnibus bill

The Indonesian parliament has passed a ground-breaking piece of legislation that amends 79 laws and, according to the government, will help kickstart the economy, which has been hit hard by COVID-19.

The government says the bill will make doing business easier and help draw foreign investment by reducing red tape and simplifying existing laws related to business, labour and the environment. Critics and interest groups are up in arms as they are of the view it will harm workers and the environment in the process.

There’s a lot of noise around this new, controversial law and it has been met with widespread protests, which makes it important to look through the noise. To do just that, Unravel spoke with Azman Jaafar, managing partner and head of the Indonesia practice at RHTLaw Asia, and associate Aulia Shannon.