Five Documents from the IKN Project Must Be Released After the Supreme Court Rules in Favour of JATAM
Indonesia’s Supreme Court (MA) has rejected the Ministry of Public Works and Housing’s (PUPR) appeal in a public information dispute brought by the Mining Advocacy Network (JATAM) East Kalimantan chapter regarding several projects in Nusantara new capital city (IKN).
The ruling requires PUPR to release five previously classified project documents from IKN to the public.
“The PUPR Ministry has released five documents which the Central Information Commission subsequently declared to be documents open to the public,” said Abdul Azis, Head of Advocacy and Legal Division at JATAM East Kalimantan, during a press conference titled “Citizens Win Against the Public Works Minister: Release IKN Information Documents” held on Friday 13 February.
The five documents that PUPR must release to the public following this ruling are:
Environmental Impact Assessment for Sepaku-Semoi Dam development
Environmental Impact Assessment for Sepaku Intake development and transmission pipeline network
Administrative statement document on the identity of dam construction
Permit application for water resource development
Principle approval document for Sepaku-Semoi Dam development
Chronology of the information dispute
The public information dispute between JATAM and the PUPR Ministry began in 2022 when JATAM East Kalimantan was conducting research in IKN.
JATAM East Kalimantan requested PUPR to release several documents to the public, particularly concerning the Sepaku Dam and Intake development.
“The Ministry of Public Works and Housing did not provide these at that time. More precisely, on 17 October 2022, JATAM East Kalimantan submitted an information request to PUPR with letter number 05/JATAM Kaltim/2022,” said Abdul.
In response, PUPR rejected their request, stating that the documents were classified and not open to the public. However, JATAM East Kalimantan argued that documents such as environmental impact assessments and technical documents should be open to the public.
Subsequently, JATAM East Kalimantan submitted a request for information dispute resolution to the Central Information Commission on 22 February 2023, with the case registered under number 11/2023.
“During proceedings at the Central Information Commission, the commission panel of judges conducted a consequence test. The question was whether the documents requested by JATAM East Kalimantan—at least seven documents—were actually documents excluded under Article 17 of the Public Information Law,” he explained.
“The factual evidence presented during the trial showed that the documents requested were indeed open to the public and when subjected to the consequence test, there were no dangerous consequences to releasing these documents to the public,” he added.
Abdul stated that in its ruling, the Information Commission granted the request and ordered PUPR to release five of the seven documents included in JATAM East Kalimantan’s petition.
However, Abdul noted that after this ruling, PUPR did not immediately provide the documents. Instead, they filed an appeal with the Jakarta Administrative Court (PTUN). The result remained unchanged, with PTUN upholding the Information Commission’s decision.
This did not end the matter. PUPR pursued a judicial review to the Supreme Court, but again, the MA also rejected PUPR’s appeal.
“Therefore, the Ministry of Public Works and Housing should comply with the Central Information Commission’s decision by releasing five of the seven documents that JATAM East Kalimantan had originally requested,” he said.
As of publication, CNN Indonesia has not obtained an official statement from the Public Works Ministry regarding the Supreme Court’s ruling in favour of JATAM.