Information bill has conflicting articles
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
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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.
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