Yogyakarta, October 21st 2021─The Center for Digital Society (CfDS) held a Digital Expert Talks #4 talkshow with Facebook Indonesia entitled “PDP Bill and Indonesia’s Digital Economy”. This event discussed the Personal Data Protection Bill (RUU PDP) from the side of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia (DPR RI), the benefits to be achieved from the ratification of the bill, as well as views from the Financial Services Authority (OJK), the technology industry, and academics. Member of Commission I of the DPR RI, Muhammad Farhan, said that in November, the DPR RI must decide whether the PDP Bill will pass into law or not. According to Farhan, there are a number of challenges in the process of ratifying the PDP Bill. General issues that are being debated in the DPR RI include the definition of personal data and personal data protection, as well as the establishment of a personal data protection authority. “This bill places stakeholders as part of those who have a very big responsibility to protect the interests of consumers or personal data of Indonesian citizens,” said Farhan.
Similarly, the Deputy Director of Basel and International Banking OJK, Tony, also considered that if later ratified, the PDP Law would greatly help OJK. This is because digitalization in the banking sector is unavoidable, while people’s digital literacy is still low and there are many cyber attacks that threaten the security of bank customers’ personal data. Currently, the protection of customer data is regulated in the Banking Law, so the financial services sector cannot immediately share customer data with other parties, but customers often pay less attention to their own personal data. “In the digital transformation pillar, OJK asks banks to do three things, they are data protection, data transfer, and data governance,” he explained.
From the industry side, the PDP Bill is expected to balance the space for innovation with protection for the community. “This PDP Law should not kill innovation,” said Facebook Indonesia & Timor Leste Public Policy Manager, Noudhy Valdryno. A proper formulation is needed so that the PDP Law can make industries comply without disrupting their operations. In addition, Valdryno hopes that the PDP Law can be recognized with international standards and can facilitate cross-border e-commerce transactions. Currently Facebook is trying to educate the public about the importance of privacy in the online realm and provide input to the government regarding PDP.
According to researcher at the Center for Indonesian Policy Studies, Thomas Dewaranu, the PDP Bill must also be able to protect people who are less concerned about terms and conditions in terms of services or digital technology. “So even though they have clicked ‘agree’ but have not read the terms and conditions, they are still protected because there is a legal umbrella for the PDP Law which limits the use of personal data,” Thomas said.