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Access to information remains patchy, says AJI
Most public information and archives remain inaccessible, a study finds.
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Law No. 14/2008 on public information requires public institutions, including governmental bodies and state enterprises, to disclose information and data to the public.
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A
lmost a decade after its legislation, the Public Information Law is still being poorly implemented, a study by the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) suggests.
Law No. 14/2008 on public information requires public institutions, including governmental bodies and state enterprises, to disclose information and data to the public.
"We have the regulation. However, its implementation remains patchy. For example, it takes a long time for journalists to obtain data from institutions. It may take up to 30 days or more," the AJI’s chairman, Abdul Manan, said in Jakarta on Wednesday.
The AJI noted that ensuring transparency and accountability of public institutions remained a challenging task -- a conclusion made based on its study of 12 public institutions, including the Education and Culture Ministry, Law and Human Rights Ministry, Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the Jakarta administration. Most institutions were given relatively low marks.
The study, which used a method designed by the Freedom of Information Advocates Network (FOIAnet), aimed to measure the implementation of the Public Information Law within the institutions.
"The Education and Culture Ministry has provided some information on its website, but when we filed an online request for other data, we didn't receive any response," AJI researcher Mawa Kresna said, adding that its study on the KPK yielded similar results.
"The Law and Human Rights Ministry also provided information online, but their documentation and information management officers [PPID] were moved to other desks. So when we went to its office and requested some data, the ministry couldn't provide anything to us," he said.
