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Govt to set up independent body to protect personal data
The government may form an independent privacy commission in relation to a draft personal data protection bill that has been in the works at the Communications and Information Ministry since 2015
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span>The government may form an independent privacy commission in relation to a draft personal data protection bill that has been in the works at the Communications and Information Ministry since 2015.
The bill is intended to create consolidated legislation for data protection, as it is currently mentioned in 32 different laws — including the 2016 Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law. Personal data protection is only specifically governed under Communications and Information Ministerial Regulation No. 20/2016, which is deemed inadequate amid the increasing use of personal data by digital companies.
The ministry’s information applications director general, Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, said the independent agency would supervise the application of personal data protection law and would function similarly to the European Union’s data protection authorities.
“The commission will be similar to the EU’s data protection authorities. However, unlike in the EU, where the authorities are selected by the parliament, we are proposing that the commission be selected by the government and arranged under a government regulation,” Semuel said during a discussion on the bill in Jakarta on Tuesday.
As quoted on the European Commission’s website, the EU’s data protection authorities are tasked to “supervise, through investigative and corrective powers, the application of the data protection law” and “provide expert advice on data protection issues and handle complaints lodged against violations of the General Data Protection Regulation and the relevant national laws”.
The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which has been implemented in all its member countries since May 2018, offers a framework for similar regulations in other countries, including Indonesia. Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore and the Philippines have also formed similar independent commissions following their passing of a data protection law.
“We want the commission to be filled with prominent people who have backgrounds in data protection, such as lawyers and engineers. [...] We don’t want it to be filled with politicians but rather professionals. The commission will be independent and the selection process will be transparent,” Semuel said.
He added that the government would include the establishment of the commission into its discussion on the bill with the House of Representatives.
He said the ministry had completed draft bill and was waiting for President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to issue a presidential letter to hand the bill over to the House for deliberation.
The ministry aims to pass the bill prior to the current House’s last plenary meeting on Sept. 30, before the newly elected lawmakers take office. Some have expressed doubt, however, as a prolonged deliberation may occur considering the complexities of the bill.
Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam) researcher Wahyudi Djafar said the formation of an independent data protection commission could potentially prolong deliberation as the House might not be on the same page as the government.
“In the Philippines, the independent regulatory body was formed by the president and the senate. As a result, the selected commissioners were people close to the president who didn’t qualify for the positions. We don’t want this to happen in Indonesia,” he told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of the discussion.
Lawmaker Meutya Hafid of the Golkar Party and a member of Commission I, which oversees foreign affairs and defense, and is to deliberate the bill, said the commission would wait for the deliberation before commenting on the formation of an independent data protection commission.
She said the House was supportive of the government’s personal data protection bill initiative as it had become an urgent matter, adding that Commission I would push for the bill to be included on the 2019 priority list of the National Legislation Program (Prolegnas).
“I am more concerned about our remaining time to deliberate the bill. We really hope that the government could speed up in handing it over to us. [...] Hopefully there will enough time to pass the bill,” she said during the discussion. (ars)
