Bogor, West Java (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Communication and Informatics is working to disseminate information about the Personal Data Protection Bill to the public in parallel to participating in discussions on the bill in the House of Representatives (DPR RI).

The ministry's expert staff for communications and mass media, Devie Rahmawati, confirmed this on Friday, and said the dissemination is important to ensure the bill is welcomed by the public and satisfies public expectations after it is finalized into law.

"Our current effort is to disseminate the data protection bill to the public, in parallel to deliberations with parliamentary members, to ensure public acceptance as they understand the contents of the bill before the bill's passing," she said in Bogor on Friday.

The ministry is currently continuing to deliberate Articles of the bill with members of Commission I of DPR RI responsible for the bill, she informed.

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The current bone of contention during the deliberations surrounds the supervisory agency that would be responsible for data protection issues after the bill becomes law, the expert staff said.

While the lawmakers want the supervisory agency to be an independent agency, the ministry has contended that the agency must be under the ministry's direct command to ease harmonization between the ministry and the agency, Rahmawati informed.

Despite the clash, she said she is convinced the ministry and the legislature will reach a compromise on the issue, and deliberations on the bill will continue and the bill finalized before 2022.

Besides intensive coordination with DPR RI, the ministry will continue to communicate with members of the public regarding aspects of the data protection bill, the expert staff said.

"We currently strive to correct flaws in the bill to avoid the necessity to amend the regulation after its finalization. We are also committing to focus on dissemination and education efforts while accepting public input and listening to their concerns regarding the bill," Rahmawati added.

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Translator: Livia Kristianti, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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