Gov’t Issues New Regulation to Improve Pre-Employment Card Program

A Screenshot of Presidential Regulation Number 76 of 2020.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on 7 July 2020 signed Presidential Regulation (Perpres) Number 76 of 2020 on amendment to Presidential Regulation Number 36 of 2020 on pre-employment card program.

The new Regulation is part of the Government’s commitment to strengthen and improve the quality of the program. The Regulation is also based on the recommendations from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), the Attorney General’s Office, the Development and Finance Supervisory Agency (BPKP), and the National Public Procurement Agency (LKPP).

“With the issuance of the Presidential Regulation, we hope that the implementation of the program can run smoothly, because the next batch has been highly anticipated by prospective participants of the pre-employment card program,” Secretary of Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs Susiwijono said in Jakarta, Monday (13/7).

Susiwijono said that the program is provided for jobseekers, workers affected by layoffs, workers who need job competency improvement, workers affected by work suspension, informal workers, and micro and small business owners.

The Regulation also stipulates that state officials, speakers and members of the Regional People’s Representative Council (DPRD), state civil apparatus, personnel of the Indonesian National Defense Forces TNI and the Indonesian National Police (Polri), village heads and village apparatus, as well as directors, commissioners and board of trustees of State-Owned Enterprises/Regional-Owned Enterprises (BUMN/BUMD) are prohibited to receive pre-employment card.

The organizational structure of the Job Creation Committee is also strengthened by the addition of Committee members including Minister of State Secretary, Cabinet Secretary, Attorney General, Head of the Indonesian National Police (Kapolri), Head of the Development and Finance Supervisory Agency (BPKP), and Head of the National Public Procurement Agency (LKPP).

“The addition of new Committee members is expected to maintain accountability and good governance,” Susiwijono said.

The Presidential Regulation also stipulates that management of the program can file lawsuit for compensation or criminal charges if the recipients of the pre-employment card commit fraud.

The Regulation also reaffirms the evaluation conducted by the National Public Procurement Agency (LKPP) and the legal opinion of the Deputy Attorney General for State Administration (Jamdatun) that the selection of digital platforms and training institutions is not included in the scope of Government goods and services procurement regulation.

However, the program implementation will take into account the objectives, principles, and ethics in government goods and services procurement, which will be further stipulated in the implementing regulation.

The Regulation also stipulates that training institutions must have job competency-based training in accordance with the needs of job market by taking into account national, international or special job competency standards.

“The Committee hopes that batch 4 can start at the end of July 2020 with an estimated quota up to 500,000 participants, especially for the affected workers based on the White List data from Ministry of Manpower. The Committee also hopes that offline training can start in mid-August 2020 in specific regions by taking into account health protocol and physical distancing protocol,” Susiwijono said, adding that the Regulation is expected to improve the quality of the program, starting from the batch 4 onwards.

For the record, the specific matters on the implementation of the pre-employment card program will be further stipulated in Ministerial Regulation which is currently in the drafting stage. (PR of Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs/EN)

Translated by: Ridwan Ibadurrohman
Reviewed by: Mia Medyana