'Freedom of information act should set precedent'
Ati Nurbaiti, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Foreign speakers at an international seminar on freedom of information legislation gave a boost to public pressure here that the future freedom of information act should set a precedent for all related laws.
At the end of the two-day talks on Saturday, Toby Mendel of Article 19, an international organization on the freedom of expression, said, "Freedom of information legislation should override secrecy laws to the extent of any inconsistencies."
The statement was part of an open letter from the foreign participants for members of the Special Committee of the legislature set up last month to deliberate the information bill.
The letter referred to international standards of freedom of information legislation, as reflected in recommendations from the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression.
Apart from Mendel, who is based in Canada, the other eight signatories were lawyers, lecturers and activists.
They were Mukelani Dimba of South Africa's Open Democracy Advice Center, Venkat Iyer of the University of Ulster, Jordanstown in the UK, Dini Widiastuti of Article 19 in the UK, Sacha Jotisalikorn of Forum Asia and Nakorn Serirak of the Thammasat University, both in Thailand.
Others were Vince Lazatin of the Philippine's Transparency and Accountability Network, Rick Snell of Australia's University of Tasmania and Kamayani Swami of Rajasthan's Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan NGO in India.
The talks were held by the Coalition of the Freedom of Information Act, which comprises around 40 non-governmental organizations and several individuals who work in issues on the environment, media, women's rights, labor movements and consumers rights, etc. The Coalition earlier urged the Special Committee, led by Paulus Widiyanto, to first deliberate the freedom for information bill ahead of the state secrecy bill, the anti- terrorism bill and the intelligence bill.
These three latter bills gained support following the Oct. 12 terrorist attacks on Bali, after which the long-delayed government regulation in lieu of law on anti-terrorism was passed on Oct. 18.
Chief of the National Intelligence Agency Hendropriyono has urged that all four bills be deliberated "in an integrated manner" as they are interrelated. The House of Representatives has yet to decide which bill should be deliberated first, and lawyer Mas Achmad Santosa told the forum that progress reflected in the freedom of information bill so far would be undermined if it was not deliberated ahead of the other related bills.
"The freedom of information bill must be a reference for the related laws," he said, although he acknowledged that legally, the future act would be on a par with the other laws.
The Coalition representatives pointed out clauses in the freedom of information bill that contradicted the other bills, such as the mechanism to determine classified information. They stressed that the freedom for information bill already regulated exceptions to publicly accessible free information, such as those pertaining to national security, and that "exceptions to exceptions" of information classified as state secrets.
Campaign coordinator Ignatius Haryanto said the Coalition hoped the Special Committee would be consistent with the current bill, which largely incorporated public input, as opposed to the earlier government draft.
Mas Achmad said the adoption of the freedom of information act was "a global trend", with 50 countries now having passed the act, the latest being Pakistan.
State Minister of Information and Communication Syamsul Mu'arif told the forum that the government recognized the need for the bill as a requirement for transparency and accountability, which would eventually lead to better performance of the bureaucracy and increased public participation.
However, he was concerned regarding the readiness of society and the government toward the act. Weaknesses included the lack of a documentation culture and the organizational structure of the administration, which hampered the flow of information even among government bodies, he said.