"Digital technology makes it easier for us all to conduct activities and create work, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the unwise use of digital technology will cause various problems, such as hoaxes and disinformation. Hence, good digital literacy has become a necessity, and it is no longer an option," the ministry’s secretary general, Mira Tayyiba, noted in a press statement here on Wednesday.
Tayyiba made the statement during the commemoration of National Information Openness Day. The secretary general stressed that Public Information Commission (KIP) should ensure the public's right to access public information down to the village level.
Tayyiba assessed that Law Number 14 of 2008 on Openness of Public Information had played a good role in ensuring access to accurate information, especially that on the performance of public agencies.
Since the regulation was implemented in 2010, the ministry observes that several public institutions are yet not sufficiently informative. Based on data from KIP in 2020, out of the 348 public institutions monitored, only 60, or 17.4 percent, were included as informative institutions.
Some 34 public institutions, or 9.8 percent, have toward informative status, while other public institutions are categorized as fairly informative (17.53 percent), less informative (13.51 percent), and not informative (41.95 percent).
"I deem this to be very important on account of the fact that public information openness is the main indicator for a democracy. The openness of public information is the main instrument in implementing a clean and transparent government," she stated.
The secretary remarked that several efforts should be undertaken, so that public institutions can become informative institutes by firstly bolstering the performance of Information and Documentation Management (PPID) officials and the leaders of public institutions across levels harboring the same views on the culture of information openness.
The subsequent step is to streamline data management practices on each PPID with digital technology as the basis for information services and then working towards boosting the capacity of PPID human resources in utilizing digital technology.
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Translator: Natisha Andarningtyas, Katrian
Editor: Sri Haryati
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