House urged to deliberate freedom of information bill
House urged to deliberate freedom of information bill
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A coalition for freedom of information has urged the House of
Representatives (DPR) to start deliberating the bill on public
access to information that the government submitted in March.
Coalition chairman Agus Sudibyo expressed fears on Friday that
the deliberation of the political and antiterrorism bills would
further delay discussion of the freedom of information bill.
Agus said a freedom of information law would provide a solid
basis for the country's corruption eradication drive.
"The eradication of corruption will never take place as long
as there is no free access to information," Agus argued.
Agus was briefing the press after a meeting with legislators
from the Reform faction in the House. The meeting was part of the
coalition's roadshow to convince legislators to start
deliberating the long-overdue freedom of information bill
immediately.
The coalition consists of about 30 non-governmental
organizations (NGOs), including the Alliance of Independent
Journalists, Center for Electoral Reform, Indonesian Conference
on Religion and Peace, Indonesian Corruption Watch, Indonesian
Center for Environmental Law, Legal Aid Institute, Transparency
International Indonesia, and others.
By Friday, the coalition had met legislators from the Golkar
Party, the United Development Party (PPP), and the National
Awakening Party (PKB).
"Most factions promised to follow up on our arguments," Agus
said.
Reform faction legislator Samuel Koto said that his faction
took the same view as the coalition.
Whether or not the bill on public access to information would
be deliberated immediately, he said, would depend on the opinion
of the other factions in the House.
Samuel said legislators were currently busy working on the
deliberation of various bills, including the political party,
general elections and antiterrorism bills.
"Probably, we will be able to start discussing the bill on
freedom of information in January at the earliest" Samuel added.
The freedom of information bill was submitted to a plenary
session on March 11.
The bill consists of 10 chapters, 61 articles and a number of
appendices. It includes the right to inspect documents, the right
to attend all public meetings, the right to obtain photocopies of
documents, the right to general information and the right to
disseminate information.
The bill also deals with information that would be restricted
to the public at large. Such information includes anything that
could interfere with law enforcement, the protection of property
rights and business competition.
Information that could disturb security, the defense of the
state and privacy would also be off-limits.