Jakarta – Lawmakers are dragging their feet on the witness protection bill, legislation that is expected to help root out major cases of corruption and rights violations, a human rights group says.

Wahyu Wagiman of Elsam said observers were becoming disappointed with House of Representatives legislators for stalling debate on the bill. "The bill's deliberations should have been completed in April and were conducted in closed-door meetings to ensure the media had no access," he said here Thursday.

A House working committee is deliberating the bill before it is handed over to another committee for checking. Wahyu said the House had instead given priority to the state secrets bill, which protected the interests of state institutions, including the military and police.