But unionised workers and those seeking formal jobs are among those who have demonstrated at their workplaces, genuinely worried that the law will disenfranchise them amid mounting unemployment. The Indonesian economy is on the cusp of a painful recession as it grapples with more than 340,000 coronavirus cases.

The so-called omnibus bill seeks to overhaul close to 80 laws to reduce red tape and rigidities that investors had long cited as deterrents to doing more business in Indonesia.

For example, the amount of severance pay borne by companies will be reduced from levels that analysts have described as unrealistically high (and the government said were usually not met based on their data), firms can state reasons for dismissals in contracts at the outset, and the formula for calculating annual increases to minimum wage has been made more flexible.

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Violent protests against Indonesia's Omnibus Law on job creation enter second week

Violent protests against Indonesia's Omnibus Law on job creation enter second week

While proponents of the omnibus bill say permanent workers are still largely protected and barriers to entry for investors have been lowered, attention – and anger – has focused on the watered-down rights of workers.

Changes to environment laws have also alarmed both civil society organisations and some global investors, who wrote to the government earlier this month. For example, the government’s bid to streamline the process of getting permits has excluded the views of certain communities from environmental impact assessments.   The bill will also make it easier for conservation forest areas to be converted into commercial use and ease requirements for the retention of a minimum percentage of forest cover in certain areas.

Regardless, Jokowi has stood firm, saying the bill is crucial to providing work for the country’s young population. Amid mounting calls for the bill to be toned down or cancelled, the leader last week encouraged those discontented with the bill – which will become law in 30 days – to challenge its provisions in the Constitutional Court.

One wonders then why such glaring miscalculations were made in the face of good intentions. The failure to consult widely and clearly explain the actual clauses, the rush to pass the bill and the lack of a final draft made immediately available to the public cannot now be corrected by the government pointing to quick, tangible benefits of the bill.

There are none to be had at this point. The bill’s clauses need to be implemented, Covid-19 is still raging and disrupting business activity, and regulatory uncertainty and corruption continue to remain barriers to entry for investors. As Richard Borsuk of the Singapore-based business consultancy Researching Southeast Asia puts it, the new law isn’t a “magic wand”.

“You’re not going to be able to wave it and see a red carpet filled with people saying, I want to put a factory in Java. It won’t work that way. It will work over a period of years,” said Borsuk, who has reported on business and investments in Indonesia for decades.

Indonesia’s new jobs bill gets warning shot from global investors

The irony is that after Jokowi won his second term last year, analysts wondered if politicking would undo his grand plans for reform. After getting buy-in from businesses and unions, would there be enough support from Parliament to push through the bill, given the extent of vested interests among lawmakers?

As it turned out, on October 5, seven out of nine factions in Parliament passed the law. Siwage Dharma Negara, the coordinator of the Indonesia Studies programme at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, said majority support for the bill showed “the capability of the Jokowi administration to negotiate with parliament and the ability of the president to control the coalition”.

Instead, it was the failure to take into account anxieties of the people the bill sought to help that fuelled the current chaos and raised questions over the future of other policy reforms.

Jokowi has four years before his second – and final – term ends to determine how he wants to be remembered among Indonesia’s seven presidents.

Before the pandemic, economic growth hovered around 5 per cent and this will need to be lifted through more investments that can generate jobs. The president has also made it a KPI for his administration to propel Indonesia up the ranks of the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index, from its current spot at 73 to 40, said Siwage.

How missteps over the omnibus bill play out remains to be seen, but they are not something Indonesia’s leader can afford to make again if he wants to secure his legacy.