The government is likely to miss the deadline set for establishing the National Information Commission created under the law on access to public information, as state officials are too busy campaigning for the upcoming legislative elections, a civil interest group said Tuesday.

The Freedom of Information Coalition interest group criticized the government for delaying the establishment of the commission, which is meant to play a crucial role in ensuring the implementation of the 2008 law on public information access.  

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has yet to submit candidate names for the new House of Representatives commission, with less than 40 days to go until the April 30 deadline.

“With only 40 days left, we doubt the government will be able to meet the deadline,” coalition member Damardono told a press conference Tuesday.

The 2008 law requires the establishment of an information commission one year after the law’s enactment.

Even though Yudhoyono promised state duties would not be abandoned during the campaigning season, this negligence proved the government was not able to carry out its duties effectively during the campaign period, with state officials too busy preparing the April 9 elections, the coalition said.

“The government will violate the law if it fails to meet the deadline, and the public will not be able to get easy access to information as guaranteed by the law,” Damardono said.

“The establishment of the commission is crucial as it will be an independent body allowing the public to perform check-and-balances on government activities and access information held by public offices,” he said. According to the coalition, the government’s special selection team put forward a list of 21 candidates to the President for approval earlier this year, but there still has not been any response from the state secretary office.  

“The President should immediately approve the list, announce it to the public and forward it to the House, so that the House can hold a ‘fit-and-proper’ test to pick seven out of the 21 candidates as members of the information commission,” said another coalition member Bejo Untung. “We urge the President to complete it by April 1 at the latest.”   

The coalition warned the government and the House had less time to complete the selection process because the House was currently in recess and scheduled to continue its sitting session on April 16.  The coalition also queried Yudhoyono’s commitment to good and clean governance as several crucial bills had not progressed in the last seven months of his tenure, notably the corruption court and the public service bills.

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