Manila, February 6, 2025 – On the sidelines of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting 2025, Indonesia’s OGP Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) held a bilateral meeting with the Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Agency (BKSAP) of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) and the Policy Strategy Agency (BSK) of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights.
The meeting, attended by Aryanto Nugroho, National Coordinator of Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Indonesia, addressed critical issues related to the achievements and challenges of implementing Open Government initiatives in Indonesia, as well as opportunities for co-creation between CSOs, the Indonesian Government, and DPR RI within the Open Government Indonesia (OGI) framework. BKSAP DPR RI’s participation in the conference marked a significant moment to integrate the strategic role of the legislature in supporting Open Government in Indonesia. Legislative involvement has been an integral part of the Open Government philosophy and a key factor in achieving ambitious open government reforms since the OGP’s inception. Additionally, the legislature can play a vital role in setting the agenda and creating space and support for open government reforms.
Moreover, civil society urged the Indonesian government to promptly ratify the draft Presidential Regulation (Perpres) on the National Strategy for Open Government Indonesia (Stratnas KPI). This draft regulation, developed by civil society in collaboration with the Ministry of National Development Planning/Bappenas, has yet to be followed up in the 2025 Perpres drafting program. Consequently, the presence of BSK from the Ministry of Law and Human Rights is deemed highly strategic in advocating this alongside other government stakeholders.
During the meeting, civil society also highlighted the implementation of the National Action Plan for Open Government Indonesia (RAN OGI) and the importance of aligning it with the National Action Plan for Open Parliament Indonesia (RAN OPI). OPI is an initiative aimed at promoting a more modern and open legislature based on the values of transparency, accountability, and participation. The goals of OPI align with OGP initiatives, particularly in fostering openness in parliamentary governance. The coalition also emphasized the need to optimize local OGP initiatives in Indonesia, given DPR RI’s strategic role as a representation of Indonesian society at the local level.
In response to civil society’s input, Mardani Ali Sera, Chair of BKSAP DPR RI, affirmed DPR RI’s commitment to exercising its oversight, budgeting, and legislative functions in line with the OGP framework to achieve transparent, accountable, participatory, and inclusive parliamentary governance. Mardani added that BKSAP has formed a Working Committee (Panja) to reactivate the previously implemented OPI. As such, civil society’s involvement in the OPI agenda moving forward is highly needed. Open government will also be a priority for BKSAP, as it has proposed its inclusion in the Asian Parliamentary Assembly’s articles.
A positive response was also delivered by Andry Indrady, Head of BSK at the Ministry of Law and Human Rights. He stated that OGP is a crucial instrument in enhancing more open and participatory governance. Therefore, BSK requires policy briefs drafted by civil society. BSK also committed to bridging civil society’s interests in advocating for the Perpres Stratnas KPI.
At the end of the bilateral meeting, civil society presented a Two-Pager White Paper on Open Government Indonesia, containing policy recommendations to strengthen open government in Indonesia and integrate RAN OGI and RAN OPI in alignment with OGP’s framework and principles.