Camelia Pasandaran – With Indonesia's controversial state secrecy bill likely to be passed into law this month, analysts are urging legislators to ensure that an independent watchdog is created to supervise its implementation.

"If the law is installed under a good government, there will be no problem," said Jaleswari Pramodhawardani, a political researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI). "But if it is applied under a bad government, it could return us to an era of authoritarianism."

Andreas Pareira, a member of the House committee deliberating the bill, said the committee had decided to remove an article in the draft that stipulated the creation of a supervisory board for the bill's implementation.

"We decided to delete that part as we think it has no significance," Andreas said. "It will only add to the usual problem of Indonesian bureaucracy. Why do we need another watchdog when we have the press and lawmakers to watch over the implementation of this bill?"

He said the creation of a state secrecy council outlined in the current draft would be capable of implementing the bill.

The draft states that the council would consist of government ministers, the attorney general, the National Police chief, the head of State Intelligence Agency (BIN) and others representatives. "They will be the supervisors of the bill's enactment," Andreas said.

But Ahmad Faisol, a member of the Institute for Studies on the Free Flow of Information (ISAI), said the council was not enough.

"The enactment of the bill will be managed by the government," he said. "How can the government watch over themselves? They could create a very loose definition of what could be categorized as a state secret.

"I would prefer that professional and trustworthy people be chosen if the House agrees to have a bill watchdog, such as people from the academic community and civic groups," Ahmad added. "We need to ensure that the enactment of the bill will not restrict the public's access to informat ion."

Journalists and academic researchers are among those concerned that the bill could affect their work.

"After the implementation of the bill, journalists' work will be in danger," Ahmad said. "If the media reveals information that the council claims is a state secret, they may face heavy sanctions, such as spending time in prison."

Jaleswari also said that her work as a researcher would be under threat. "Researchers won't be free to seek data and present it in our work," she said.

With the heavy sanctions proposed by the bill's draft, Ahmad and Jaleswari insisted that a watchdog was necessary to ensure that the law would not be manipulated to restrict the flow of information.

"Law enforcers could wrongly detain someone who might not be harming state security," Jaleswari said.

Ahmad demanded the House reconsider the heavy sanctions proposed in the bill.

Andreas said the bill was expected to be passed within the month. "We're planning to pass the bill this month, on September 15," he said on Sunday. "However, it will only be passed once it is perfected."