Jakarta,(Cakrayudha-hankam.com) – Who is having a good time enjoying nickel wealth in Indonesia?
University of Indonesia (UI) Senior Economist Faisal Basri openly stated that China is the most dominant in controlling Indonesia’s nickel natural resources (SDA).
This happened because of President Joko Widodo’s policy of banning the export of raw nickel.
“You know that because nickel ore is banned (export), 95 percent of nickel ore is used for Chinese companies. Given a price, there is no price. The price in Shanghai is US$80, the government officially sets (the price) for China it is US$35. 95 percent of its products are exported to China,” he said in his statement, Friday (4/11/2022).
Faisal also questioned and conveyed the negative effects of this policy, including the issue of China being free from paying taxes (nickel exports).
He also claimed that his criticism had reached Jokowi’s cabinet meeting.
“I have said this everywhere. Even (discussed) at the cabinet meeting, ratas (limited meeting),” said Faisal.
Faisal then questioned what the Indonesian people got from this policy. He was actually surprised because the policy of banning the export of nickel ore had been conveyed to the public many times.
“That incredible lie. We, I mean what do the Indonesian people get? China, which received IDR 450 trillion. So don’t mess around with the country, Pak Jokowi,” added Faisal.
Revenue Transparency from Nickel Downstreaming
Meanwhile, a member of Commission VII DPR RI, Mulyanto, urged the Indonesian government to be transparent regarding state revenue sourced from nickel downstream.
This is because the government’s claim that there has been an increase in state revenue from IDR 15 trillion to IDR 350 trillion is very odd and dubious.
“We asked the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) to audit the accuracy of the state revenue data from this nickel downstream program,” said Mulyanto in his statement Thursday (20/10/2022).
Mulyanto suspects that this figure is not state revenue but the total value of nickel exports by foreign smelter companies in Indonesia.
“BPK must be able to ascertain the actual value of state revenue from the nickel downstream program. Because the figures submitted by the government are too bombastic and don’t make sense,” said Mulyanto.
Mulyanto also asked the government not to mess around with the accuracy of this state revenue data, because this figure will affect the state’s financial reports. Therefore, he hopes that the government will be transparent and be able to explain the amount of state revenue from nickel downstream so that people do not misinterpret.
“Hopefully this figure is not state revenue but merely a figure for nickel exports by foreign smelters, whose profits are mainly enjoyed by the smelter investors. And in no way, is not state revenue. This is a very different interpretation,” he said.
According to him, the government needs to explain this matter clearly, from what sources the state revenue comes from. Because so far the smelter industry has been free from export taxes or export duties. The export tax for semi-finished nickel downstream products (NPI) will take effect in 2022.
“That’s just the plan. Meanwhile, they also receive tax exemption incentives or tax holiday (corporate tax) for 25 years. Nor do they pay value added tax (VAT). And because they don’t mine and only buy ore from miners at low prices, the smelter industry doesn’t pay a penny of mining royalties,” he explained.
In fact, he said, it was suspected that workers who were brought in from abroad did not use worker visas, but had tourist status, and were unskilled labourers. This again eroded state revenues.
“It is possible that the super luxurious fiscal and non-fiscal incentive facilities for the existing nickel downstream program will actually harm the state’s treasury,” he said.
Because of this, the Politician from the PKS faction urged the Government to carry out a comprehensive evaluation of this nickel downstream program before continuing to downstream other mines such as tin and bauxite.
“You have to clear the road map for the stages of the industry and its downstream products, so that it is hoped that the industry will actually grow with high added value and with a large multiplier effect for society. Don’t just downstream, which is subordinate to the industrialization process in China, which exports semi-finished products with low added value,” he concluded.
President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) again conveyed at the Opening of the 2022 Investor Daily Summit, Tuesday (11/10/2022), that industrial downstreaming can increase Indonesia’s export results.
He gave an example, the export value of nickel commodities increased from IDR 15 trillion to IDR 360 trillion after the downstream process.
According to him, Indonesia has received a windfall of up to IDR 360 trillion through downstreaming nickel into value-added goods. Therefore, to repeat the success of banning nickel exports, President Jokowi will also ban exports of tin, bauxite and copper.
Source: asiatoday[dot]id