Secretary-General M. Guntur Hamzah giving a keynote speech at the Coordination Meeting for the Salvage of National Static Archives of 2022, Tuesday (11/22/2022) at Ra Suites Hotel Simatupang, Jakarta. Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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Tuesday, November 22, 2022 | 15:24 WIB

JAKARTA (MKRI) — Secretary-General M. Guntur Hamzah gave a keynote speech at the Coordination Meeting for the Salvage of National Static Archives of 2022 on Tuesday, November 22, 2022 on site at Ra Suites Hotel Simatupang, Jakarta. The head of the National Archives of the Republic of Indonesia (ANRI) Imam Gunarto and officials of various public institutions were in attendance.

Guntur said that archives are the most factual, complete, systematic, authentic, and reliable sources of information, evidence, and institutional accountability materials. “Because archives are a very important source of information, they are also very valuable national assets and must be protected. As [Canadian Dominion Archivist] Arthur G. Doughty (1924) stated: ‘Of all our national assets, Archives are the most precious, they are the gift of one generation to another and the extent of our care of them marks the extent of our civilization,’” he said.

Guntur also said the history of human civilization can be uncovered and studied through archives that are stored in a complete, authentic, and reliable manner. There would be no history of nation or human civilization without archives.

“For judicial institutions such as the Constitutional Court, archives are information that can act as a scientific database, because they are lasting information on legal events in the form of constitutional cases that describe the dynamics of the course of a nation’s political life. The state archives created by the Constitutional Court serve as a collective memory, archives of historical value that are very important for national accountability to present and future generations,” he said.

The Constitutional Court believes the management, rescue, and preservation of archives are importan for national accountability, especially those of cases and decisions, which reflects the implementation of the Constitutional Court’s authorities and obligation.

As part of the Court’s commitment to accountability on the management, salvage, and preservation of these archives, it has submitted 21 static archives in the form of 2,631 files to ANRI from 2006 to 2022, which comprised 6,222 textual archives, 1,031 sound recordings, 870 CDs, 2,420 video DVDs/CDs, and 224 CDs of digital archives, and 14 flash drives. 

Salvage of Archives

Guntur also emphasized that the success of state institutions and society in salvaging archives is largely determined by the management of dynamic archives in accordance with the standards and laws and regulations contained in Article 40 of Law No. 43 of 2009 on Archives, which has mandated that institutions creating archives are obliged to manage archives in a reliable, systematic, complete, comprehensive manner and in accordance with the norms, standards, procedures, and criteria by means of creating good and correct (authentic, complete, and reliable) archives following Article 41 of the Archive Law. Maintaining the security and safety of the archives is mandated by Article 42. In addition, Article 53 mandates the submission of static archives to the National Archives.

“Global changes marked by digital transformations bring demands for good and clean governance. Good governance is marked by transparency, accountability, compliance with the law, and open public participation. In order to realize good and clean government, policies are needed to change institutional and management systems through the use of information and communication technology in government processes (e-government),” he added.

The development of e-government, he explained, is an effort to develop electronic-based governance in order to improve the quality of public services effectively and efficiently. The use of technology and information in government processes is expected to increase efficiency, effectiveness, transparency, and accountability.

In line with this, Guntur explained, the government cannot rely on manual/conventional archive management systems. It must be able to transform the manual filing system to a digital one, including the salvage of archives. 

Writer        : Utami Argawati
Editor        : Nur R.
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 11/23/2022 13:34 WIB

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian versions, the Indonesian version will prevail.

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