Labor Employment Polemic Solution Through Circular Letter: Is…

Labor Employment Polemic Solution Through Circular Letter: Is it Appropriate?

By Nicholas Martua Siagian

11 Jun 2025 18:40 WIB 11 June 2025 18:40 WIB 6 minutes reading time: 6 minutes 2 read

Updated: 19 Jan 2026 18:45 WIB 19 January 2026 18:45 WIB

Discussing the effectiveness of using Circular Letters as a policy of the Minister of Manpower

Labor Employment Polemic Solution Through Circular Letter: Is it Appropriate?

Opinion Note

This opinion article was written by a contributor/columnist. The views expressed are entirely the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the editors.

CONTRIBUTOR PROGRAM

You can become a columnist at Legal Literacy.

Submit your legal opinion/analysis writing. If it is published, you have the opportunity to obtain a payout/honorarium in accordance with the provisions.

Submit Article Read Guidelines

Table of Contents

Polemic on the Use of SE
Circulars Are Not Regulations
From what I understand, circular letters are not a long-term answer to our labor crisis. In an emergency, circular letters can indeed be used as a temporary measure. However, for the sustainability and enforceability of legal norms, the government is obliged to draw up hierarchical, substantive, and binding regulations. Circular Letters, although quick and easy to issue, do not have the legal force necessary to regulate the wider community, especially when faced with increasingly complex and often exploitative labor practices. Failure to do so will only make us continue to repeat the cycle of

Baca tanpa iklan.

Gabung Membership

Section 2/3: Polemic on the Use of SE

Polemic on the Use of SE

In an effort to respond to this situation, the Minister of Manpower issued two Circulars in May 2025, namely: SE Menaker Number M/5/HK.04.00/V/2025 concerning the Prohibition of Withholding Diplomas and/or Personal Documents Belonging to Workers/Laborers, and SE Menaker Number M/6/HK.04/V/2025 concerning the Prohibition of Discrimination in the Labor Recruitment Process.

From the point of view of the science of forming laws and regulations, these two circulars are a progressive step. It becomes a kind of “spotlight” on bad practices that have been a public secret but difficult to touch by law. However, a fundamental question arises: do circulars have sufficient legal force to guarantee labor protection?

From the perspective of State Administrative Law, a circular is a form of administrative policy regulation, born from the principle of discretion of public officials or freies ermessen. Fitriani Ahlan Sjarif and Efraim Jordi Kastanya in their article in the Journal of Law & Development (2021) state that a circular is actually an internal communication instrument that is not legally binding on external parties, and should not create new legal norms, let alone “regulate” society directly.

A similar condition occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many circulars issued by the Task Force or ministries actually turned into “quasi-regulation” that exceeded the limits of administrative authority. Professor of Law at UI, Maria Farida Indrati, firmly stated that circulars may only clarify the implementation of existing laws, not create new laws.