J

AKARTA: Along with other NGOs and 13 individuals, the Independent Journalists Alliance (AJI) on Thursday demanded the Constitutional Court review the 2011 State Intelligence Law.

AJI chairman Eko Maryadi said the Intelligence Law, enacted in November, could threaten freedom of the press. The law also contravened the Freedom of Information Law as well as the Constitution, he claimed.

The Intelligence Law was full of pasal karet (multi-interpretation articles) wherein the definition of state secrecy could limit the activity of journalists and even subject them to criminalization. To make things worse, the term “intelligence secret” could also be applied to documents at state institutions that the public actually had the right to access, Eko said.

“This stipulation [in the Intelligence Law] will surely hamper press freedom which is guaranteed by the Press Law,” he added.