'Freedom of information act should set precedent'

'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.