Election bill discriminates against disabled: Critics<\/p>\n
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The election bill discriminates against people with physical
\ndisabilities, critics said here on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The bill, which is being worked on at the home ministry before
\nbeing proposed to the House of Representatives for endorsement,
\ndenies people with physical disabilities many of their political
\nrights, such as the right to become legislators.<\/p>\n
The government, especially the team working on the election
\nbill, needs to provide an explanation to the public about the
\ndiscriminative bill.<\/p>\n
\"All laws should give equal political opportunity to people
\nwith disabilities,\" said Hadar N. Gumay from the Center for
\nElectoral Reform at a seminar titled \"Democratization through the
\nElection System for Disabled Indonesians\".<\/p>\n
The criticism revolves around article 32 of the election bill,
\nwhich states that legislative candidates should \"be in good
\nphysical and mental health proven by hospital records of a
\ngeneral health checkup.\"<\/p>\n
The requirement that candidates must be in sound physical and
\nmental health is not mentioned in the existing political election
\nlaws made in 1999.<\/p>\n
Agun Gunandjar Sudarsa, a Golkar legislator, said, however,
\nthat the article was not designed to be discriminative. He said
\nthat it was designed to obtain qualified legislators.<\/p>\n
\"I believe there was no intention to limit the political
\nrights of the disabled,\" Agun said.<\/p>\n
He added that the regulation to boost public participation
\nmust be included either in an article in the bill or in a
\nseparate law.<\/p>\n
An Interest Group member at the People's Consultative Assembly
\n(MPR) Fikri Thalib expressed similar concern over the revision to
\nthe Assembly's internal regulations that discriminates against
\npeople with physical disabilities.<\/p>\n
According to Fikri the regulation that set literacy as a basic
\nrequirement contradicted the reform movement and human rights.<\/p>\n
Speaking from his wheelchair, Fikri said the revision of the
\nregulation had prevented 2 million visually impaired persons from
\nbecoming Assembly members.<\/p>\n
Both the election bill and the Assembly decree would be a
\nserious threat to the reform movement in creating a democratic
\nsystem in the country, he said.<\/p>\n
Imam B. Prasodjo from the General Elections Commission (KPU)
\nvowed that he and other commission members would assist disabled
\npeople during the election.<\/p>\n
Imam said his team would prepare regulations allowing family
\nmembers to help the visually impaired exercise their political
\nrights.<\/p>\n
He added the team would also propose the use of Braille during
\nthe election.<\/p>\n
The seminar on Saturday was organized in conjunction with the
\nInternational Day of Disabled Persons on Dec. 3., attended mostly
\nby people with physical disabilities, including the blind, deaf
\nand amputees.<\/p>\n
Article 32 : Basic requirements for legislative candidates:
\n * able to speak, read and write Indonesian
\n * a minimum education level of high school
\n * to have sound physical and mental health, as proven by hospital
\nrecords of a general health checkup<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/election-bill-discriminates-against-disabled-critics-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}