“The Central Information Commission (KIP) and President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo have called on all public institutions, local administration and state-owned companies to provide more access to their public information in order to build trust,” according to an article in The Jakarta Post.
“If an openness to information becomes intrinsic to our attitude and culture, this will eventually bring about a mutual trust between all parts of the nation and soon we will have good and clean governance. Open information [and access to it] is a form of corruption prevention,” said the head of the Commission, Abdulhamid Dipopramon..
The statement was made at a ceremony at the State Palace at KIP presented awards to public institutions for their efforts to provide better public information.
The awards were based on a survey to which 47 percent (180) of 386 public institutions responded, an increase from 40 percent last year and 38 percent in 2013. Abdulhamid also noted an inadequate response rate from political parties and provinces.
The president presented the awards granted to the top three institutions in each category:
- for ministerial institutions, the Finance Ministry, the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry and the Industry Ministry;
- for public institutions, the Indonesian National Archives Agency (ANRI), the National Population and Family Planning Board (BKKBN) and the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (Lapan); and
- for non-structural institutions, the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK), the General Elections Commission (KPU).
The 2008 Public Information Law which came into force in 2010. The commission has handled 70 percent of the 5,000 public information disputes since its establishment in 2009.
The article said, “The National Police have yet to comply with a 2011 KIP ruling in which the police were ordered to disclose information on the suspicious bank accounts of a number of high-ranking police officers following a petition filed by anti corruption campaigners.”
In his speech, Jokowi said:
We are currently in a new era where the pattern of relations between the government and the people has changed. The people [now] want transparency and information disclosure; people want dialog and an interactive relationship between government and the public. People want a government that is quick to respond to their complaints.
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