NGOs reject state secrecy bill
NGOs reject state secrecy bill
JAKARTA (JP): A number of non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) grouped under the Coalition for Freedom to Information
said on Friday that they were against the bill on state secrecy
currently being deliberated at the House of Representatives
(DPR).
"If the bill is passed into law, it will be a disaster (for
freedom to information). 'State secrecy' has a very broad meaning
and can be dragged into many areas," said Mas Achmad Santosa of
the Coalition for Freedom to Information.
He reiterated that the bill was not in line with efforts to
create a transparent government as it would not only apply to a
limited number of high ranking officials but also those of the
lower echelons.
Citing Article 12 Paragraph 2 of the bill, Santosa said even
government officials of the first echelon could decide if a state
document was a secret.
Santosa said the bill also did not rule how to solve conflicts
if there were different interpretations of ambiguous phrases in
the articles of the bill.
"I am worried that officials can arbitrarily decide that a
certain matter is a secret. This is against the efforts to combat
corruption, collusion and nepotistic practices (KKN)," Santosa
asserted.
He classified state secrecy into two -- the good and the bad.
He said "good" secrecy covers national defense, security and
other matters that had to be protected, while "bad" secrecy was
on matters that had nothing to do with the nation's security.
State secrecy, Santosa added, could also be categorized into
national security secrecy, political secrecy and bureaucratic
secrecy. He said national security secrecy covered all matters
linked to national security.
"Only the good secrecy and national security secrecy deserve
to be protected," said Santosa.
Deputy head of the State Code Institute Wihardijono said
earlier that a law on state secrecy was needed to guide the
institute in its tasks.
He also said the law was particularly important to rule on
"gray areas" between what was believed to be a state secret and
what was not.
"We need a law on state secrecy to protect the nation's
interests," he said, adding that he also supported the effort of
the Coalition for Freedom to Information to introduce a bill on
the freedom to obtain public information.
The organizations that supported the coalition are the
Independent Journalist Association, the Antidiscrimination
Movement, the Indonesian Conference in Religion and Peace, the
Indonesian Corruption Watch, the Indonesian Center for
Environmental Law, the Information Flow Studies Institute and the
Indonesian Media Law and Policy Center.
Santosa stressed that if the bill on state secrecy was passed
into law, it would hamper public access to information.
"We know that public access to information is one of the
requirements to help create an open government. An open
government is a government whose policies are made through
transparency, openness and participation," he added.
He said an open government ought to guarantee at least five
public rights, which consisted of the right to monitor public
officials (right to observe), the right to information, the right
to participate in creating public policy, the right to reject
policies and freedom of the press.
The effort to prevent KKN by creating an open government is
more strategic than repressive efforts of punishing corruptors,
Santosa added. (02)