Public information openess is a characteristic of a democratic country
NICT, UIN News Online – Commissioner of the Central Information Commission for Advocacy, Socialization and Education, Wafa Patria Umma, said that one of the characteristics of a democratic country is the public information openness. It is not a democracy if there is no public participation and openness.
“Therefore, in the era of public information disclosure, every Public Agency is required to be more open,” said Wafa in her speech at the Evaluation of Information Management and Documentation Officer (PPID) workshop at the National Information and Communication Technology Center (Pustiknas) UIN Jakarta, Tuesday (02/15/2022).
Wafa Patria said that Indonesia is a member of the Open Governance Partnership (OGP) movement which was launched at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, United States in 2011.
In the universally applicable human rights law, the state is obliged to respect, protect, and fulfill the rights of citizens to know and have the right to freedom of information.
It is said, information is a basic need of every person for self-development and social environment. This has been guaranteed in the constitution of the Republic of Indonesia. Therefore, getting information is a human right of every citizen and is contained in Article 28 F of the 1945 Constitution.
Through that basis, she continued, the government later ratified Law (UU) No. 14 of 2008 concerning on Public Information Openess (KIP).
“Apart from being a legal basis for obtaining information, the establishment of the UU KIP is also intended as an effort to realize good, transparent, effective, efficient, and accountable governance,” she explained.
According to Wafa Patria, through the disclosure of information, all plans, programs, and reasons for making public decisions can be widely known by the public. This condition is believed to encourage public participation in every decision in the context of good governance.
Information disclosure is a means of optimizing public supervision of state administration. In fact, information disclosure is also an important efforts to prevent corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN).
The PPID Evaluation Workshop was held by the Center for Public Relations and Legal Aid (PLHBH) UIN Jakarta. The workshop was attended by a number of PPID administrators from various units at UIN Jakarta. (ns/usa)