Information bill has conflicting articles
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Public access to information guaranteed by the freedom of information bill could be threatened with the inclusion of a specific right granted to public offices to declare certain information classified.
The contradiction in terms may worsen with the potential adoption of more legislation to justify that certain information be kept from the public.
Agus Sudibyo, coordinator of the Coalition for Freedom of Information, demanded on Saturday that the House of Representatives (DPR) special committee deliberating the bill drop the ruling.
"The article which allows public offices to declare certain information off limits to the public will make this legislation meaningless," Agus told The Jakarta Post.
The coalition consists of more than 30 non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including the Independent Journalists Alliance (AJI), Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro), Movement for Antidiscrimination (Gandi), Indonesian Conference on Religion and Peace (ICRP), Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), Transparency International-Indonesia (TII).
Article 6 says that public offices have the right to not disclose certain information that is excluded from the freedom of information law and other laws. The explanatory appendix of the bill categorizes such information as that related to individual privacy and state defense strategy.
Agus insisted that House legislators had to drop the article because it would make the law ineffective.
Enforcement of the bill will be ineffective because it allows other laws to restrict public access to information, including the laws on archives, trade secrecy, state secrecy, he added.
According to Agus, the freedom of information bill should function as an "umbrella act" for various laws on communication and information.
He suggested that all regulations, including those on certain information which the public will be denied access to, be mentioned explicitly in the bill.
Commenting on the demand, legislator Djoko Susilo, a member of the House's special committee deliberating the bill, said that legislators would assess the ruling first before taking any decision.
Principally, he said, not all information could be exposed publicly. Therefore, there must be some exceptions.
"We will ensure this ruling is congruous with those that regulate state secrecy," Djoko told the Post.
Press Council chairman Atmakusumah Astraatmadja said the freedom of information bill should help promote democracy in a smooth and peaceful way.
He added that the increasing number of Asian countries which have adopted a freedom of information law reflected the importance of access to information to develop a well-informed society.
Atmakusumah reminded legislators of Article 28 F of the amended Constitution which says that anyone has the right to communicate and to obtain information to develop themselves and their environment, and has the right to seek, obtain, possess, keep, assess and publish information.
Articles in the bill that could be misused --------------------------------------------------------------- Article 5: Users of public information have the obligation not to
misuse information as related to this law and other laws.
Article 6: Public offices have the right to refuse to disclose
information if it is among that information excluded in this law and other laws. ---------------------------------------------------------------