Abuse of Power: Legalization of Illegal Mining in National Strategic Projects

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-279-8_2How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Abuse of Power; Legalization; Illegal Mining; Law

Abstract

Mining regulations stipulate that every mining activity must have a mining business permit. Without a permit, the activity is classified as illegal mining. Criminal sanctions are strictly regulated, but in the case of bauxite mining in Wadas Village, Central Java, under the pretext of using mining materials for a government project, namely for the construction of a reservoir, that mining does not require a mining permit as regulated in the mineral and coal mining law. National Strategic Projects (PSN) are projects implemented by the Government that have a strategic nature to increase growth and equal development to improve community welfare and regional development. Apparently, the National Strategic Project is only used as an excuse to deviate from applicable mining regulations. Research was done using a doctrinal approach to identify the occurrence of legalization of illegal mining and its implications for the state, society, and the environment. The research results show that the practice of legalizing illegal mining occurs in various modes or patterns, including weakening the law enforcement process for illegal mining, blurring the law enforcement process for fake mining permits, and allowing mining activities without permits under the pretext of national strategic projects. This means that in addition to the substance of the regulation of mining governance and law enforcement officials, there is an element of power on behalf of the government that dominantly gives rise to illegal mining. This policy has implications for potential state losses, environmental damage, taking away people’s living space and citizen safety. From the perspective of legal theory, the act of legalization is clearly a form of abuse of power which is contrary to the essence of law. This effort to manipulate the law to legalize illegal mining is clearly a form of weakening the law.

Copyright

© 2024 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Download article (PDF)

TY  - CONF
AU  - Haris Retno Susmiyati
AU  - Alfian Alfian
AU  - Grizelda Grizelda
AU  - Rahmawati Alhidayah
AU  - Wiwik Harjanti
AU  - Aryo Subroto
PY  - 2024
DA  - 2024/08/30
TI  - Abuse of Power: Legalization of Illegal Mining in National Strategic Projects
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Law, Public Policy, and Human Rights (ICLaPH 2023)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 3
EP  - 18
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-279-8_2
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-279-8_2
ID  - Susmiyati2024
ER  -