The Indonesian Press Council
is calling for a rethink of the draft state secrets bill that has been given
priority on the House of Representatives’ legislative agenda for 2013.
If enacted into law, the current bill would jeopardise press
freedom, which is one of the pillars of democracy, the council said.
The bill, drafted by the Defence Ministry, stipulates that
state information about security, foreign relations, law enforcement,
intelligence and encryption should not be made available to the public, Press
Council member Agus Sudibyo said.
“The TNI [Indonesian Military], for example, is a public
institution funded by a state budget, and thus has to be transparent,” Agus
said during a recent discussion at the Indonesia Institute of Sciences (Lipi)
in Jakarta. “It will be dangerous if this bill is approved.”
Lipi defence expert Jaleswari Pramodhawardani echoed Agus,
saying that the bill would limit press freedom, since things such as the
defence budget would remain top secret.
“I understand that things related to state security, such as
defence strategy, should be kept secret. The defence budget, on the other hand,
should be made available to the public,” Jaleswari said.
Agus said that the bill would be at cross purposes with the
2008 Freedom of Information Law, which came into force in April 2010.
According to the law, all information, including that held by
the TNI, should be made available to the public, as long as its revelation does
not pose a threat to state security.
“Unlike the state secrets bill, the 2008 law regulates the
type of the information that is confidential, instead of the institution,” Agus
said.
He criticised the bill for stating that whoever revealed a
“state secret”, as broadly defined by the bill, could be given hefty
punishments, such as a maximum sentence of life imprisonment or required to pay
a maximum fine of 1 billion rupiah (US$103,231).
“This is so unfair. The punishments should be imposed on the
officials and institutions who fail to protect the state secrets,” Agus said.
“Instead, the bill gives severe punishment to the public, including the media,
who may not even realise that they have leaked classified information.”
The council has repeatedly urged the government to revise the
bill in accordance with the principle of freedom of information. Government
officials and lawmakers failed to complete deliberations on the first version
of the bill sent to the House in 2008, citing an unclear definition of what
comprised a state secret.
The chairman of House Commission I overseeing defence,
foreign affairs and information, Mahfudz Siddiq, said that the Freedom of
Information Law mandated the enactment of a state secrets law.
He said that the House would focus on clarifying the concept
of state secrecy before making a list of information that should be kept secret
from the public.
News Desk
The Jakarta Post
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