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s one of the largest democracies in Asia, Indonesia has yet to ensure its citizens access to information, with lawmakers and the government devising legislation that may hinder such a right.

The Institute for Defense, Security and Peace Studies’ (IDSPS) executive director Mufti Makaarim told The Jakarta Post on Monday that although the country had a freedom of information law, which took effect last year, people were still inhibited from gaining information freely due to red tape or officials’ ignorance of the law.

The condition was not improving, he said, as lawmakers and the government were planning to pass a number of bills relating to national security containing articles that could be inimical to freedom, or even perceived as draconian.

The legislation includes the National Security Bill, the State Secret Bill, the Strategic Industry Bill and the Intelligence Law as well as the 2008 Information and Electronic Transaction Law. The Intelligence Law is currently being reviewed by the Constitutional Court.

The ISDPS, along with the Open Society Foundation, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUMASIA) and Tifa Foundation, will hold a two-day meeting where members of civil society organizations in the region can gather to discuss the challenges they face in maintaining security without sacrificing freedom of information.

Called the “Asia Civil Society Consultation on National Security and Right to Information Principles”, the event will be held on Nov. 9-10.

Civil society representatives and activists from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Timor Leste, South Korea will be attending the meeting, though the highlight would be the confirmed attendance of Frank William La Rue, the UN special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression.

Sandra Coliver from the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) and Pos M. Hutabarat from Indonesia’s Defense Ministry, are also scheduled to attend the discussion.

Mufti said that the OSJI had been working to establish international principles to serve as a reference for policy makers engaged in drafting or revising related security and information regulations.

He said the principles and the regional consultation event were therefore important for Indonesia, which was now reforming its own national security system.

“The principles and the event itself are important for our democratic transition process. We do not want to put the clock back.”

Mufti said that the Jakarta regional consultation meeting would be a follow-up from the Budapest meeting in Hungary in June. The Budapest gathering recommended continuing research and holding regional consultations to examine the principles under regional circumstances. It is hoped that the principles will be finalized and launched in 2012.