Walhi Wins Adjudication Against Bali Governor

26 April 2013

Walhi Bali won their lawsuit against Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika related to Tahura (public forest park) license in Ngurah Rai area of 102.22 hectares beign given to PT Tirta Rahmat Bahari (TRB).

Based on Information Commission’s (KI) decision, there are three documents that the Bali government must provide. The first is application letter to manage mangrove forest from PT TRB No. 28.09.10.M.001 dated 28 September 2010. The second is business plan for natural tourism. The third is the environmental management scheme and environmental monitoring scheme (UKL/PKL) of the natural tourism.

“The KI ordered the defendant to provide the information in 14 days after the decision was made,” said Bali KI chairman Gede Santanu on 24 April 2013.

However, the KI still determined that several items in the three documents are exempted information; they are bank reference, budget plan and design map.

Meanwhile Bali Governor’s lawyer Agung Herwanto said he had not decided to comply with the decision and could confirm when the information would be given. “We’re still discussing it and will coordinate with our associates,” he said.

Previously, Walhi requested 11 items of information related to the issuance of Tahura license from Bali Governor. However, only eight items were given and the other three were exempted.

 

http://en.kebebasaninformasi.org/2013/04/26/walhi-menangkan-ajudikasi-atas-gubernur-bali/

2013, Year of International Water Cooperation

20 March 2013

Water is humans’ basic need. Humans need water for food, daily needs and even industrial needs. Water is vital for humans and humans cannot live without water.

About 70% of Earth is covered by water, but availability of freshwater is only 3% of that amount, with even clean water availability only 1%. From that amount, 69% of water in the world is used for irrigation, 15% for household needs, 15% for industries and 1% for other needs

In 2012, it was estimated that there were seven billion people in the world and the number is expected to increase to nine billion in 2050. If no measures were taken to halt the growing population, there would be water crisis, a condition where there is water shortage. There will be lack of water supplies if the growing human population is not compensated with clean water availability. Developed countries have taken actions to halt the growing population and some countries have even decreased their population growth. However, in developing countries, population is still growing. This condition might be caused by lack of awareness towards water availability, especially in dealing with population growth and daily needs.

Even though desalination technologies are able to create clean water, Indonesia is still unable to implement them across all regions as they require a high number of human resources and advanced tools that Indonesia is still not able to produce. Importing them is also not an option as they are expensive.

The United Nations declared 2013 as International Year of Water Cooperation to raise awareness towards enhancing cooperation to overcome challenges in supplying water for food, household needs, industries and other needs.

Source: promedia.co.id

http://en.kebebasaninformasi.org/2013/03/20/2013-tahun-kerjasama-air-internasional/

The Difficulties in Seeing Migrant Workers Information in Cirebon

26 November 2013

Dissemination of Public Information Openness Law (UU KIP) is several regions seems lavish and glamorous, but is the large spending of government’s budget for those activities accompanied with the implementation? Apparently not.

It was proved by Jingga Media Cirebon activist Ahmad Rovahan who used UU KIP to find migrant workers in Cirebon region.

During the initial process, the regional government turned out to be not prepared to implement public information openness. It can be seen the lack of website. Out of four regions (Cirebon, Indramayu, Kuningan and Majalengka), only two regions that already have a website. Disappointingly, some regions still use free websites or blogs for their official websites.

Moreover, the Cirebon Manpower and Transmigration Agency does not have Information and Documentation Management Official (PPID). Rovahan who had asked for information at the agency found that the employees there did not even know about PPID. The response towards requests for information is also unsatisfactory.

“Another challenge was when I asked for information from agencies in other regions, the address of the agency was not clear,” said Rovahan.

http://en.kebebasaninformasi.org/2013/11/26/susahnya-mencari-informasi-buruh-migran-di-cirebon/

 

Central Information Commission in Vacuum, Information Disputes Unprocessed

17 June 2013

Filing of public information dispute against the Indonesian Consulate General in Hong Kong (KJRI Hong Kong) met another obstacle. The Hong Kong BMI II Team who pioneered the request for information to KJRI Hong Kong must wait their turn for their dispute to be processed as there is a vacuum in the Central information Commission (KIP)

It turns out there are many public information disputes. Data from the KIP shows that in 2013, there were 94 unsolved information disputes and even worse, in 2012, some cases were still unsolved. Data collected by the Freedom of Information Network Indonesia (FOINI) coalition also shows that from 2009 to 2012, out of 818 cases, only 64% of the cases were solved.

Team II leader MMuhammad Irsyadl Ibad said that the dispute letter had been sent to the KIP. However, the tenure of KIP commissioners that ended on 2 June halted the dispute process. According to Ibad, the KIP is now is vacuum which is why information disputes are piling up.

It is unclear when the vacuum period will end as President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has not appointed new commissioners. Migrant worker activists hope that there will be new commissioners soon as deadline set to process public information dispute is only 100 working days.

Source: buruhmigran.or.id

http://en.kebebasaninformasi.org/2013/06/17/komisi-informasi-pusat-vakum-sengketa-kip-bmi-tersendat/

Kontras: Public Information Access in Five Commissions Unsatisfactory

29 November 2013

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) has said that public access to information of commissions, which are the National Commission on Human Rights, the Attorney Commission, the National Police Commission, the Ombudsman Commission and the Judicial Commission, is unsatisfactory.

“The implementation is still poor even though they play strategic roles in public complaints towards the institutions they oversee,” said Kontras researcher Ahmad Faisal on Tuesday (26/11/2013).

Ahmad said the implementation of the public information openness law (UU KIP) in those five state commissions is still not according to the mandate. The five commissions tend to neglect requests for information and have no standard operating procedure to determine exempted information.

Information openness in the five commissions is crucial as they work according to complaints from the public. Non-transparency will hamper the performances of the five commissions.

Therefore, Kontras recommended the five commissions to set internal regulations regarding public information services, fully implement those regulations, make procedure on exempted information and adjust their websites.

http://en.kebebasaninformasi.org/2013/11/29/kontras-akses-informasi-publik-di-5-komisi-belum-memuaskan/