Indonesian CSO s ’ Experiences in Advocating FOI Law

1. Indonesian CSOs’ Experiences in Advocating FOI Law Josi Khatarina Henri Subagiyo Indonesian Center for Environmental law Coalition for Freedom of Information

2. The History 2010 - now 2008 2005 The law is enforced The law was enacted 2002 President gave his mandate to the relevant Minister to represent government in discussing the draft 2001 The coalition first draft of FOI law was adopted by the Parliament First Draft of FOI law was launched by ICEL then initiated with different organization the establishment of coalition for freedom of information, 1999 1997

3. Strategy • Campaign • Networking • Developing cases to show the importance of access to information in different issues; education, health, women empowerment, etc • Lobby • research center • Developing the capacity of decision makers (comparative study, literature support, regular discussion, etc) Capacity from within UU KIP Pressure from without

4. The Principles • MALE: max access limited exemption – covers all kind of information and advocating the use of 2 tier of exemption: consequential harm test and balancing public interest test; • Proactive information; • The FOIA as the instrument to harmonize different law related to public access to information; • A strong institution to ensure the implementation of the law; we brought up different option for the institutional set up, such as two different institutions; • The accessible, prompt, and simple access; • Dispute resolution that is quick, not complicated and easy for the common; • Sanction for those who hamper public access to information; • Whistleblower protection.

5. Challenges • The status quo; i.e. monopolistic economic group, etc; • The government stick to their old paradigm that the openness will only benefited the foreign agenda; • The civil society themselves faced difficulty to brought to issue to a larger audience. Thus, the NGOs that are involved mostly those who are working in the area of media, anti corruption and human rights. While those who are working in basic public needs such as education, welfare, etc might consider this important but not directly involve in the advocacy work;

6. Conclusion: The Key to Enactment • Social and political climate. The fall of the New Order in 1997 opening up the movement to combat corruption and to enhance good governance in Indonesia; • Strong lobby with decision makers; • Strong research and comparative study with different countries.

7. CSOs’ HomeworkEnsuring the Effective Use of the Law • Substance of the law: • Harmonization with different law; • Harmonization with the local regulation on FOI; • Developing research concerning how to implement the exemption; • Assisting the Commission in developing the technical guidelines. • Structure: • Creating best practices by assisting public body to develop SOP, training, etc; • Promoting the establishment of strong and independent central and local information commission. • Culture: • Enhancing public capacity and awareness of the public to use the law in demanding information; • Shifting the bureaucracy culture to perceive public access to information not as the threat to their work (promoting openness).