Jakarta – After mounting pressure, the government has finally withdrawn the draft law on state secrecy to allow adequate time for the controversial bill to be scrutinized.
Regarding the withdrawal of the bill, Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had given him three instructions at a Cabinet meeting in Jakarta on Wednesday.
"First was to consolidate and fix the bill's contentious articles. Secondly, the President wants the Defense Ministry to communicate with all civil groups that object to the passage of the bill. The President also wants to build good communication with the House of Representatives so that proper mechanisms can be established for the deliberation of the bill in the House of Representatives' 2009-2014 term," he told the House's working committee deliberating the bill.
Legislators, however, said the minister's explanation did not firmly indicate the government wanted to prevent the bill from being endorsed.
After Marzuki Darusman, a committee member from the Golkar Party faction, asked Juwono what he thought the government's third instruction meant, Juwono said: "Yes, the government wants to withdraw this bill from being passed due to the fact that it is impossible to pass."
The bill, which has been deliberated by the House for many years, has sparked mounting protest from human rights groups, the press and anticorruption groups that claim it contradicts the 2008 law on the free flow of information and human rights law.
They demanded the government and the House withdraw the bill. The bill carried harsh punishment for public officials and private firms that leaked state secrets and stipulated that fines between Rp 50 billion (US$5 million) and Rp 100 billion be imposed on firms found guilty of violations.
It also threatened individuals found guilty of leaking highly secret information during wartime with the death penalty.
Meanwhile, legislators said they had no problems with withdrawing the bill, but could not hide their disappointment with the government's decision.
"The only reason behind this withdrawal is because the government is not pleased with what the bills' substance has become. We have optimized this bill to be very democratic, it is very different from the repressive initial draft," said Marzuki, a former leader of the first national human rights body.
Effendie Choirie, another committee member from the National Awakening Party (PKB), said that he could accept the government's decision, although the problems and controversies surrounding the bill were triggered by the government's lack of knowledge about state secrets.
"From the beginning, the government was not ready either substantially or conceptually to deal with the issue of state secrecy in a democratic country," he said.
Media activist Agus Sudibyo from the Science, Aesthetics and Technology Foundation, said the government's decision would create more space and time for civil society groups to scrutinize and provide input about the bill. "What happened today proves that common sense still has a place in the nation's politics," he said. (hdt)