A member of the Press Council, Wina Armada Sukardi, said on Monday in a discussion at the Press Council office in Jakarta that some of the articles could possibly criminalize the work of the press.

He cited Article 51, which stipulates that institutions or persons using information in an “unlawful manner” would face one year in prison and/or a maximum fine of Rp 5 million (US$544).

“There is no fixed definition of ‘unlawful manner’ so the press will be prone to criminalization,” he said.
Another speaker at the discussion, Mas Ahmad Santosa, a member of the Judicial Mafia Taskforce, said that there were also some requirements in the law that could make its implementation difficult.

“The person or institutions demanding information have to state the purpose of their request for information,” he said.

He continued that the law also gave room for public institutions to reject requests if the information had not been documented.

Quick blogging. Three interesting issues are raised here: (1) use of 'unlawful' information, (2) statement of purpose on using information and (3) the exemption clauses. I have discussed exemption clause on my previous article. I will discuss the rest later.