Some 40 participants in a recent training session in Indonesia have agreed to each submit 10 requests under the Indonesian FOI law.
The participants come from different civil society groups and will have support from the Centre for Law and Democracy, based in Halifax, Canada, and the Indonesian Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI).
The commitment developed from a series of training sessions in late June at which a new manual on the Indonesian Act on Public Information Transparency,which came into force in May 2010. “The project is designed to raise awareness within Indonesia about international standards on secrecy, and is providing input into the ongoing debate about a secrecy law in Indonesia,” according to CLD. The manual can be accessed both in English and in Bahasa Indonesia.
CLD is partnering on this project with a number of Indonesian organizations, including PATTIRO, the Alliance of Independent Journalists, Yayasan 28, Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL) and Yayasan SET. “We will also work closely with the Central Information Commission and other public bodies to implement this project.”
CLD is offering financial support to participants, as well as technical support with the requesting process along with AJI.
“In connection with this project, CLD is also working to develop a number of knowledge tools, including a comparative study on approaches to secrecy in different countries around the world, a paper on the consequences of excessive secrecy, a comparative study on the work of information commissions and a study on the steps taken so far by select public bodies in Indonesia, as well as the gaps in preparing for implementation of the law,” CLD said.
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