Page 345 - BUKU STRENGTHENING THE INDONESIAN PARLIAMENTARY DIPLOMACY FADLI ZON

I believe that everyone here will say, “We have done that” or “We are already open” when we
hear the Open Parliament term. Indeed, for some parts, Parliament should be available all the
time to public.

For example, one may consider open if we publish the law we have adopted. Others, may
deem parliament is open when we provide an open information about the bills that are being
tabled in the parliament. But how far is openness coined in each parliament is something that
is debatable.

The issue of open parliament is not new for us, especially for Indonesia. Today, our parliament
perhaps one of the most open institutions in Indonesia. Everyone can be here. Everyone can
attend any parliamentary meetings as an audience or as an invitee. Everyone also, can stream
any meetings in the parliament through their gadgets. In addition to that, our Law on Parliament
stresses that all meetings in the Parliament are open unless stated otherwise. It means, to this
extent, we are already open.

But we want to take one step further. We realize that by promoting an open parliament, we
will have a better impact on policy process and its implementation monitoring. That is why we
joined this global movement towards openness regime.

332 I Selected Speeches of the Vice Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia