Ina Parlina – A coalition of NGOs has challenged the government with its own version of the state secrecy bill, saying this one was more "humane" and the government's one posed a threat to democracy, human rights and the people's rights to public information.
On Feb. 28, the coalition of civil society and the Institute of Defense Security and Peace Studies (IDSPS) launched a draft, called the Secrets of Strategic Information for National Security, or Riskan, as opposition to the 2010 government version of the state secrecy bill drafted by the Defense Ministry.
In 2009, the same coalition rallied against the 2008 government version. After the House of Representatives agreed to postpone its deliberation, the then defense minister Juwono Sudarsono stated that his office would consult the organizations in its revision of the 2008 draft.
The coalition, however, was not happy with the new draft. It said the draft still put "too broad" a definition on what state secrecy was, raising the coalition's concern that it might still pose a great threat to the citizens.
"It's only slightly different," executive director of the IDSPS Mufti Makaarim told The Jakarta Post on Wednesda.y. "So we came up with a more civilized version as a middle ground, which recognizes both state secrets and human rights."
The team includes academicians and human rights activists.
Mufti also questioned the objective behind the government's draft, whether it was to protect the state or the people. "Don't forget that national security also belongs to the public," he added.
A defense researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) who is also in the team, Jaleswari Pramodhawardani, is of the same opinion as Mufti, saying that it possibly violated human rights. "The government's draft is obviously too broad and to some extent could be misused," she said.
The government's version regulates that any citizen found responsible of leaking state secrets may face up to 20 years' imprisonment and a maximum fine of Rp 5 billion. During a state of war, a citizen could face the death penalty or serve a lifetime in jail.
Riskan's draft stipulates only the state officials who manage the information is subjected to imprisonment of up to 10 years or 1 billion fines.
Another issue is that the government version uses "any citizen", while Riskan uses "state officials". If information is leaked, there is supposed to be the actor who leaks it and a party who receives it.
With its broad and vague definition on state secrets, the government's draft also threatens press freedom, the coalition believed.
The coalition touted Riskan as offering protection to journalists who were working for the public interest as specified by the press law.
Effendy Choiri from the House's Commission I, which is slated to deliberate the bill later this year, said that such feedback from the coalition was good in terms of improvement for the country.
However, he refused to comment on which version was better, saying that both sides had different perceptions. "Civil society tries to protect citizens while the government's approach is more about national security," he said.