The Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) and the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL) are today releasing two sets of guidelines designed to assist Indonesian public bodies overcome the major challenges associated with implementing the right to information (RTI) legislation Indonesia adopted in 2008. One guideline provides an overall roadmap of what public bodies need to do to implement the law and the other provides guidance on the difficult issue of applying exceptions.
Click here for the Guide on Applying Exceptions in English
Click here for the Guide on Applying Exceptions in Bahasa
Guide for Implementing Law 14/2008 on Public Information Openness
“While many Indonesian public bodies express a willingness to embrace transparency, the results suggest a lack of understanding of how to implement the RTI law,” said Dessy Eko Prayitno, Researcher with ICEL. “70% of appeals to the Central Information Commission are the result of procedural irregularities, suggesting that robust implementation systems have not yet been put in place.”
The Guidelines for Implementation: Implementing Law 14/2008 on Public Information Openness contain a detailed overview of the obligations Law 14/2008 places on public bodies, along with practical guidance as to how to meet those obligations. The Guide on Applying Exceptions offers step-by-step instructions for information officers and other officials on how to determine whether or not the regime of exceptions applies to information which has been the subject of a request. Both sets of guidelines are being distributed to public bodies across Indonesia as part of a broader campaign to promote RTI in that country.
“Understanding and applying the regime of exceptions is a very difficult challenge for public bodies tasked with implementing RTI laws,” said Toby Mendel, Executive Director of CLD. “We hope that these guidelines will provide a useful framework for those who have to undertake this task.”
More information on CLD’s work in Indonesia is available here.
For further information, please contact:
Michael Karanicolas
Legal Officer
Centre for Law and Democracy
michael@law-democracy.org
+1 902 448-5290
www.law-democracy.org
@law_democracy
