Find out this information and a host of other things online, by navigating to the relevant public institutions’ website.

One choice may be the tax office, where you may want to find out how tax collection works, given all those scandals.  

In case of an IT glitch, you could alternatively submit your request for information to a special staff assigned to manage information and documents at relevant institutions and organizations.

The 2008 Law on Freedom of Information requires all public institutions, including the government at all levels, political parties and non-government institutions to release periodically all information under their authority and appoint a special staff and several helpers to manage and distribute the information and documents.

It also guarantees the rights of all citizens and their access to general information on public institutions’ visions, programs, performance, personnel and logistics procurement, development projects, decisions and policies.

The public is denied access to certain information that potentially “threatens state defense and security”, disturbs law enforcers’ investigation of crimes including cyber-crimes and transnational crimes, undermines officials’ privacy or creates unhealthy competition among enterprises.

The law allows the police chief, attorney general and chief justice to disclose exempted information to the public after receiving approval from the President.

All this sounds a bit frustrating.

“The unclear difference between open and closed information will certainly raise become a source of disputes between public institutions and the public and such disputes will be mediated by the commission,” said the chairman of the newly formed Public Information Commission, Ahmad Alamsyah Saragih.

The law requires information and document providers to accept or turn down information seekers’ requests within 10 days.

If requests are rejected with plausible reasons, information seekers are allowed to submit complaints on the information providers to their superiors within 30 days; the superiors are then required to respond to the complaints with written reasons within another 30 working days if they confirms the rejection to provide the information and document concerned.

If this is unsatisfactory, information seekers can take their case to the information commission for mediation within 14 days at the latest after receiving the superior’s rejection.

The commission then has to begin mediation or non-litigation adjudication within 14 days and has to settle the disputes within 100 working days.

In case of failed mediation, the information commission is allowed to adjudicate disputes to seek fair settlements and its decisions will be final and binding.   

Conflicting sides are allowed to file lawsuits to the court if any of them are not satisfied by the information commission.

They must request adjudication and appeal to the Supreme Court within 14 working days after the court verdicts are issued. All adjudication and court sessions are open to the public.

The law carries a maximum one-year prison sentence and a maximum fine of Rp 5 million (US$450) to anyone found guilty of misusing public information and documents.

Anyone found guilty of exterminating public information faces a maximum two-year jail sentence and a fine of Rp 10 million, while those found guilty of accessing exempted information are sentenced to a maximum of three years imprisonment and fines of Rp 20 million.   

KIP chairman Ahmad said information and document providers and public officials distributing misleading information would be taken to court.

“And the judiciary should use the press law in handling faults committed by electronic and print media in the information distribution and dissemination,” he said.

Limitations to the freedom of information in the law still look discouraging, pending the regulations and definitions of how one might misuse information.

Check out the following “positive” and “negative” list, which is supposed to boost public participation in all decisions affecting their lives.

Positive and negative lists on freedom of information

Positive list:
1. Information that must be released: All things that could threaten common interests and public order
2. Information that must be made available:
    a. list of all public information under authority of public institutions
    b. public institutions’ decisions and their considerations
    c. public institutions’ work plans and annual expenditures
    d. public institutions’ agreements with third parties
    e. information and policies unveiled in open meetings
    f. public institutions’ working procedures
3. In state enterprises:
    a. corporate profile
    b. identities of shareholders, directors and commissioners
    c. annual report, financial report, balance of sheet and CSR programs
    d. results of annual performance
    e. the selection mechanism for executives
    f. cases made open as public information
    g. good governance guidelines
    h. monetary policies, including issuance of bonds
    i. replacement of public accountants
    j. changes in fiscal years of fiscal policies
    k. logistic procurement relating to companies’
4. In political parties and mass organizations
    a. legal basis and common goals
    b. general programs and activities
    c. party profile and activities
    d. spending of foreign assistance
    e. party’s decisions
5. In NGOs:
    a. legal basis and goals
    b. organization programs and executives
    c. the use of funds received as foreign aid
    d. decision making procedures
    e. public organizations’ decisions

Negative list:
1. Public information that could undermine law enforcement:
    a. information that could disturb crime investigation
    b. information that could reveal the identity of informants and witnesses
    c. information that could reveal criminal intelligence data relating to the handling of all forms of transnational crimes
    d. information that could threaten the safety of law enforcers and their families
    e. information that could threaten the safety of law enforcement facilities
2. Public information that could affect the protection of intellectual rights from unhealthy business competition
3. Public information that could endanger state defense and security:
    a. information on strategy, intelligence and operation relating to state defense systems
    b. documents containing strategy, intelligence and operations relating to state defense systems
    c. the number, composition, disposition or dislocation of military strength in implementation of state defense systems
    d. images and data on the situation and location of military installations
    e. data on estimation of foreign countries’ defense strengths, military posture
    f. state encoding system
    g. state intelligence system
4. Public information that could reveal Indonesia’s natural resources
5. Public information that could undermine economic resilience:
    a. initial plans of foreign money purchases and sales
    b. initial plans of foreign exchanges, interest rates and financial operation models
    c. initial plans of changes to bank interest rates, government bonds, taxes, tariffs and state revenue
    d. initial plans for land and property purchase
    e. initial plans for foreign investments
    f. the supervision of banks, insurance and other financial institutions and its results
    g. all aspects relating to the printing of money
6. Public information that could undermine foreign affairs:
    a. Indonesia’s position and strategy in international negotiations
    b. interstate diplomatic correspondence
    c. communication system and code-words used in international ties
    d. protection of Indonesia’s assets overseas
7. Public information that could reveal the content of someone’s personal act and last will
8. Public information that could disturb citizens’ privacy:
    a. the history and condition of families
    b. the history and condition of every citizen
    c. someone’s financial condition, assets, income and/or bank accounts
    d. the evaluation results relating to capability, intellectuality and competence
    e. personal track-record relating education backgrounds
9. Memoranda of understanding among public institutions
10. Information prohibited by the law to be revealed to the public.

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