Ezra Sihite & Ulma Haryanto – With the much-criticized bill on state intelligence moving closer to ratification, a rights group is raising concerns over the vague language of the latest draft.

"Even though a number of proposals from civil society organizations have been incorporated into the bill, in general it still fails to create an agency that is in line with the principles of human rights, the law and democracy," Haris Azhar, a coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), said on Friday.

The bill also lacked concise definitions of national security, threats to the nation, human rights and civil liberties, he said.

"With no clear definition of national security, the application of the intelligence bill could clash with the KIP [the 2009 Law on Public Information]," Haris told the Jakarta Globe.

Article 24 of the bill states that information classified as intelligence is considered a state secret, while the 2009 law does not have that stipulation.

The bill also states that anyone leaking classified information related to national defense, the country's natural resources, economics or international politics and relations before the 20-year period of confidentiality was over could face criminal charges.

"Rather than forbidding people from leaking confidential information, the bill should regulates how the State Intelligence Agency [BIN] stores its information instead," Haris said.

He added that nothing in the bill specified that intelligence officers had to respect the law and human rights, be apolitical, refrain from engaging in side businesses or work impartially and indiscriminately.

The bill also lacks provisions on addressing complaints filed by civil society organizations, Haris said.

"A monitoring body should be able to investigate nay intelligence activities that potentially violate human rights. However, this passage was removed from the final version of the bill," he said.

House of Representatives deputy speaker Priyo Budi Santoso said the legislature drafted the law with the interest of the people in mind "and the law will not be used to scare or intimidate the public." "We are confident that [the draft] we passed yesterday was the best possible compromise," the legislator said.

The bill is expected to be passed next week after the church bombing in Solo on Sunday galvanized lawmakers to set their differences aside to break the long-standing deadlock.