Jakarta. Indonesia said on Wednesday that it would not transfer its citizens' personal data to the US, but what Jakarta was open to giving was commercial data as part of the latest tariff deal.

The government was trying to reassure the public that Indonesia was not sacrificing its citizens’ data for the sake of a lower-than-promised tariff. President Prabowo Subianto has just reached an agreement with his American counterpart Donald Trump who agreed to slash his tariffs on Indonesian goods to 19 percent, down by 13 percentage points from his earlier threats. 

A joint statement released by the White House revealed that Jakarta had made countless promises to Washington, such as pledging to remove barriers for digital trade. This includes by providing "certainty" regarding Jakarta’s ability to transfer personal data to the US. Trump wants Indonesia to legally recognize the US as a country that “provides adequate data protection”. This part of the agreement immediately sparked massive outrage in Indonesia, a country that has witnessed a slew of data breaches in recent years.

Haryo Limanseto, a spokesman at the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, attempted to calm public panic.

“The joint statement indeed touched on data transfer. However, the flexibility of data transfer given to the US or other partner countries focuses on commercial data. So it is not the [transfer] of personal data or strategic data as stated by the law and other related regulations,” Haryo told reporters in Jakarta.

Examples of personal data would include full name and age. 

“Commercial data, on the other hand, is more of processed information. It can encompass information related to sales volume in a certain region. So imagine a bank collects data and does some research on the information that they have gathered. That's what we meant by commercial data,” Haryo said. 

"We will also not give away any strategic data related to state secrets."

The Communications Ministry will be in charge of handling the technical details of this data transfer.

More details on the trade pact will also have to wait for a follow-up agreement both countries were planning to finalize in the coming weeks. Haryo also could not give the exact timeframe of when the much-awaited agreement would be ready for signature.

A personal data protection law is already in place for Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest digital economy.

The law sets two main categories of personal data: general and specific. General personal data includes name, gender, and marital status, all of which can easily be found in other documents. Specific personal data is more sensitive in nature with medical information, biometrics, and criminal record falling into this category.