Jakarta – Press and law experts worry that the vagueness of the 2008 Freedom of Information Law, which will take effect in late April, will have a negative impact on press freedom.

A member of the Press Council, Wina Armada Sukardi, said on Monday in a discussion at the Press Council office in Jakarta that some of the articles could possibly criminalize the work of the press.

He cited Article 51, which stipulates that institutions or persons using information in an "unlawful manner" would face one year in prison and/or a maximum fine of Rp 5 million (US$544). "There is no fixed definition of 'unlawful manner' so the press will be prone to criminalization," he said.

Another speaker at the discussion, Mas Ahmad Santosa, a member of the Judicial Mafia Taskforce, said that there were also some requirements in the law that could make its implementation difficult.

"The person or institutions demanding information have to state the purpose of their request for information," he said. He continued that the law also gave room for public institutions to reject requests if the information had not been documented.

Mas Ahmad said that another factor that would hinder the implementation of the law was that some public officials considered transparency a threat to their positions.

"Openness is considered a threat toward the status-quo for certain groups of people, mostly corrupt officials," he told the discussion.

The chairman of the Information Central Commission, Ahmad Alamsyah Saragih, said many public institutions were not ready to apply the law, like regional administrations.

"To date, only seven public institutions are now seriously preparing standard operating procedures for implementing the law in their offices," he said.

These are the National Police, the Health Department, the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court, the Central Java administration, the Transaction and Reports Analysis Center and the Development Finance Comptroller, he said.

Bagir Manan, former Supreme Court chief justice, now the chairman of the Press Council, reminded the public that the Freedom of Information law should be applied with responsibility and integrity.

"This freedom is 'freedom to benefit others' not 'freedom for the sake of freedom'," he said. He also warned the press not to become trapped in euphoria and breach the content of the law.

The law exempts some types of information, which are not the subject of transparency, such as information that endangers the country, information related to individual rights and information that could lead to unhealthy business competition.

"We don't want this law to be the source of disharmony and catastrophe in the future," Bagir said. (rdf)