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State secrecy bill 'likely' to pass, legislator says

Jakarta Globe - August 30, 2009

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – A lawmaker said on Sunday that the House of Representatives was likely to adopt a controversial article in the State Secrecy Bill that would allow media outlets to face fines of as much as Rp 100 billion ($10 million) for publishing state secrets.

Speaking in Jakarta, Yusron Ihza Mahendra, an outgoing Crescent Star Party (PBB) lawmaker and a member of the House commission debating the bill, said lawmakers believed the sanction would ensure that nobody violated the law. He denied that the law was meant to muzzle the media.

Several NGOs including the Press Council recently expressed concerns that press freedom would be threatened by the bill.

The bill defines a state secret as information that has been declared confidential by the president or a ministry acting his behalf, stating that the dissemination of such information could endanger the state.

Leo Batubara, a member of the Press Council, speaking earlier, said the proposed fine was a huge sum that would bankrupt most media organizations. He also said the law was in keeping with the spirit of Suharto's authoritarian New Order, which used three tools to control press freedom: the revocation of a company's operating license, fining a company until bankruptcy and jailing of journalists.

Media observer Agus Sudibyo from the Science, Aesthetic, and Technology Foundation (SET) said the secrecy bill must not conflict with the Freedom of Information Law.

He said the fine in the State Secrecy Bill was much harsher than the maximum penalty of Rp 20 million paid by government officials who misuse public information, as stipulated by the information law.

Emerson Yuntho from Indonesia Corruption Watch said the House should delay deliberations because the bill would weaken the anticorruption movement.

"The bill fails to guarantee that the government will be transparent and accountable."

Yusron said the bill would not harm democracy and press freedom. "The Freedom of Information Law is a result of our commission, too. We would never betray principles of the freedom."