Editorial: Indonesia joins the club

Indonesia is one step closer to joining the club of commendably democratic countries after the House of Representatives unanimously agreed to pass the freedom of information bill into law Thursday. In this spirit, the House must now move forward by nullifying any impending bills, like the state secrecy law, currently under deliberation at the House, which is against the spirit of reform and democratization of the new law. , 

The passing of the new law will make Indonesia a member of a group of select countries recognizing the freedom of information as one's protected right, including Sweden, which has recognized the right since 1766, the United States since 1967 and Australia, Canada and New Zealand since 1982. What we need to prove is that we will also be able to implement what the law mandates us to implement. , 

Despite the prolonged legislative process -- eight years since its initial draft was submitted to the House and then deliberated during the presidencies of Abdurrahman Wahid, Megawati Soekarnoputri and incumbent Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono -- the House deserves a thumbs-up for its bold move to pass the bill into law. The House has managed to overcome the government's strong resistance against several articles in the bill, mainly on the requirement for state companies to disclose any information requested by the public.   |  Fri, 04/04/2008 1:18 AM

The passing of the bill into law also shows the country's recognition of Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which reads: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinion without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

It is also in compliance with Article 28F of the Amended 1945 Constitution: "Everybody has the right to communicate and the right to information to develop his or her personal and social environment, and has the right to seek, receive, possess, keep, develop and give the information by any means."

From a journalistic point of view, the passing of the bill into law will also mean a guarantee of the promotion of transparency and accountability -- especially on the government's part -- and most importantly, press freedom, as journalists can have the latitude to exercise investigative reporting against all odds and irregularities.

The general public can then expect -- through the mass media -- firsthand, accurate and accountable information and current issues as the law allows people to take legal measures should public offices or officials refuse to release information requested by journalists.

The enactment of the freedom of information law is therefore expected to help combat rampant and chronic corruption and practices of abuse of power in this country, which is going to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its reform movement this May.

Besides all the freedom granted by the law, we also welcome some exceptions on information restricted from public viewing, especially those which could affect or disrupt law enforcement, endanger witnesses and officers, halt an investigation, affect the protection of property rights, disadvantage the country's defense strategy and interfere with personal privacy.

Now that the freedom of information law is nearly at its implementation stage, we are of the opinion the country is not in need of having a state secrecy law.

As the freedom of information law is meant to guarantee Indonesian citizens the rights to monitor the management of public institutions and officials, the state secrecy bill, if enacted, would tend to classify as state secrets as much information as possible, therefore nullifying all the freedom granted in the freedom of information law.

Moreover, hasn't all the government's concern for classified information been incorporated into an article in the freedom of information law as some exception to information available for public access or viewing?

The general public has been expecting the freedom of information bill for a long time, while the House legislators have put all their energy and stamina into passing the bill into law. After years of waiting and deliberation, do we still want to have a new law -- the state secrecy law -- that will completely go against the spirit of the freedom of the information law?

The suffering from a yearlong drought can be overcome by a daylong rain. But this should not be the case for the state secrecy bill as passing it into law would completely cancel out all the efforts made in the deliberation of the freedom of information bill.

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