A Royal(ty) Pain for Coal Miners

Somehow, the government has a talent for implementing policies-however noble and justified-at the wrong place and the wrong time. In pursuing higher non-tax revenue targets to fund its ambitious development projects, particularly its massive infrastructure programs, the Joko Widodo administration is now looking at requiring coal-producing companies to cough up more than Rp25 trillion in unpaid royalties. The push could not have come at a worse time for the coal industry, currently in a slump in both Indonesia and worldwide.

Moreover, coal miners are unlikely to comply with the government's demand when the finance ministry has yet to meet their own claims on overdue tax refunds going back several years. Companies insist they will not be forking out the royalty payments until the government shows some reciprocity over the excess taxes they were compelled to pay in the past.