Help Indonesian Engineers out of Illegality
Help Indonesian Engineers out of Illegality!
Bambang I. Soemarwoto, Leiden, The Netherlands, 31 October 2020
While the voices opposing and supporting the omnibus law still linger in the wake of mass protests against it, one may contemplate the silence towards the engineering licensure bill passed in 2014. The two bills reflect Indonesia’s ambition to become a global leading nation, beyond surviving global competition. Both are crucial for Indonesia to benefit from the upcoming demographic bonus, where the alternative would be a mass unemployment of incompetent population.
The main thrust of a licensure in engineering anywhere in the world is ensuring public health, safety and welfare. It defines engineering profession and describes requirements that need to be fulfilled to practice engineering. That’s about it in a nutshell. But, the term engineering encompasses a broad range of disciplines and roles in various activities and processes. Requiring a licensure to each one of them would bring an unworkable situation, hampering innovation to create products of engineering whose very purpose is to advance humanity.
A practical solution is then to allow exemptions to licensure requirements, like in the United States, affecting a wide spectrum of engineering profession. This may explain why only 475.000 engineers out of 1,7 million Americans with degrees in engineering have a license as professional engineers, according to an estimate in 2011.
Remarkbly, in some countries there is no licensure law at all. There is only a limited regulation that protects the title engineer, which can only be obtained after a completion of a university engineering education. These include nations with longstanding engineering prowess such as France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland, where a pragmatic political approach is applied: where regulation is not absolutely necessary, no legislation is required.
What does Indonesia stand for with the bill? When asked to a person knowledgeable with its drafting, one answer stands out: to prepare for the Mutual Recognition Arrangements (MRA) that facilitate a free movement of skilled workers within ASEAN countries.
There is a fear of mass influx of foreign workers into the Indonesian skilled labor market. Another concern refers to the quality of Indonesian engineering graduates. Indonesia cannot afford any more engineering mishaps like those occurred in recent infrastructure projects. In this respect, legal certainty is another cause, to protect engineers from unfounded blames.
The bill should then create a barrier to foreign workers and, over time, should improve the competence of Indonesian engineers. A sense of urgency expedited the passing of the bill. All these are legitimate motives of a nation with by far the largest population but ranked 6th in Human Development Index amongst ASEAN countries. It is evident that the sovereignty of the country was another layer of reason for the bill.
How does the implementation of the bill take form? First, it specifies an all-encompassing non-exhaustive list of engineering disciplines, roles, activities and processes requiring licensure. Second, in order to be allowed to practice engineering, a certificate of professional engineer must be acquired by following a post-graduate engineering profession study program. A university degree in engineering is no longer sufficient to participate in the world of engineering.
To practice engineering without the certificate is a felony with a penalty of up to Rp 200 millions or 2 years imprisonment. It is so threatening that it is advertised as the number one necessity for following the post-graduate program offered by a leading university. So far fourty universities are approved to deliver the program, with an average fee of Rp 25 million for a regular program consisting of 24 credits in 2 semesters.
According to a recent estimate by the Institution of Indonesian Engineers (PII), the population of engineers in Indonesia is around 750.000. About 40% of them (300.000) are actively engaged in engineering. As per 2018, only 14.134 are registered as professional engineers out of 30.198 PII members. With the bill’s transition period long expired in March 2017, this means that hundreds of thousands engineers are now working illegally.
The bill is particularly problematic for fresh university graduates. Apart from the expensive fee, the admission to the post-graduate program requires a working experience of minimum two years in a relevant engineering field. But, the bill does not allow anyone to practice engineering without the certificate. As a result, the first step a fresh graduate needs to take in pursuing a career in engineering is to break the law, enter illegality, and stay there for at least two years long.
Working illegaly poses risks of being sued for anything related to the work. It is equivalent with anyone driving a car without a license. When involved in a traffic incident, he or she will be guilty in the first place. The bill states that, for any harm caused to the public, anyone practicing engineering without the certificate is subject to a penalty of up to Rp 1 billion and/or 10 years imprisonment.
A frequently heard opinion is “the bill applies only for those who sign, seal or stamp technical documents”. However, such a classification is nowhere to be found in the bill. A comforting comment is often heard, “it will not get that far with the penalty”. But this means that the bill is not to be taken seriously, accommodating offences against it (in law term: gedogen).
Moreover, status matters! Even after having acquired the certificate, a person with a history of illegality would be more vulnerable in competing to get a job. Indonesian engineers would easily be precluded from accessing jobs in other ASEAN countries, especially high valued positions explicitly requiring statement of integrity.
While, as a matter of fact, Indonesian youth are proven to be very capable, for example in IT sectors that are essential for app-based businesses or Industry 4.0 platforms. This is also true in newly emerging sectors like drone technology that has been made a high priority by the government. Innovations are often born in startups involving only a few individuals working collaboratively.
Clearly, the bill in its current implementation is more an obstacle than a succor to the very spirit of its existence. This article is not a call for demonstration or protests. People with engineering degrees are engaged in various roles as government officials, law makers, employers, employees, and individual innovators. Surely, they altogether have the necessary hearts and minds to come up with intellectual ideas to help Indonesian engineers out of illegality to enter into a bright future of the nation.
The author is a senior scientist, alumnus of ITB, residing in Leiden, The Netherlands.
