Markus Junianto Sihaloho – A lawmaker taking part in the discussion on the state secrecy bill urged the government on Sunday to pass the bill before the current House of Representative terms expire in October.

Dedy Djamaluddin Malik, from the National Mandate Party (PAN), said that a working committee for the bill's deliberation had met in Puncak, West Java, from Aug. 18 to 20 to discuss the remaining contentious articles of the bill.

Several government representatives also attended the meeting, he said. However, only 18 of about 70 contentious articles of the bill were settled at the meeting, he said.

"I think we should rely on our previous plan – settle all the problems and endorse it next month," Dedy said.

Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono had earlier said that his ministry and the House of Representatives had agreed to finalize a drafting process of the bill next month.

During the Puncak meeting, Dedy explained that the delay was caused by the government, whom he accused of rejecting suggestions from several NGOs to clearly define the concept of state secrecy. "I assure you that the House will fight to produce a state secrecy law of the highest quality," he said.

Dedy added that all of the lawmakers who had attended the bill drafting process would meet again in Jakarta this week.

Meanwhile, Andi Widjajanto, a lecturer at the School of Social and Political Science at the University of Indonesia, said last week that the public should pay attention to the bill drafting process, "because some of its articles show potential for a new authoritarian rule."

He said that the bill should clearly stipulate the mechanism for defining what is classified as a state secret.

"Attention must be paid to the drafting process. There are articles in there that threaten press freedom," Andi said. "The principle matter is that the bill must guarantee public access to its articles."

Calls to delay passing the controversial bill are increasing from a range of sectors, including the media and a number of NGOs that fear press freedom would be threatened by the government's move to curb access to information.

The bill has so far defined a state secret as any information that has been officially declared confidential by the president, or a ministry acting on the authority of the president, as the dissemination of such information could threaten the sovereignty or safety of the state. State secrets would fall into three categories: "top secret," "secret" and "limited secret."

Under the current draft bill, those who reveal state secrets face up to 20 years in jail and a fine of up to Rp 1 billion ($100,000). In times of war, any violation could result in the death penalty.

However, despite criticizing some articles with "authoritarian elements," Andi said that the bill should not be postponed any further. He said the law must also provide clauses on the Freedom of Information Law, to prevent the government from limiting access to information.

"It is more dangerous if we let the government get into in such a position," Andi said. "So it is better for us to urge the government complete the bill soon."