3.5 million disabled to have jobs by 2002

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia hopes to provide 60 percent its disabled people with equal opportunity to employment by 2002.

Susilo Soepeno, director general for social rehabilitation of the ministry of social services, said yesterday that by the year 2002 about 3.5 million (60 percent) of disabled people will have opportunities to education and employment which are equal to those of their more fortunate compatriots.

"The number of disabled people taken care of by the government at present is only 30 percent," he said after closing the 10th International Asia and Pacific Regional Conference on Rehabilitation.

The conference was opened by President Soeharto on Sept. 12.

In 1993 the Asian Pacific countries proclaimed the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons, which will last until 2002.

The government hopes that the number of disabled people cared for by the government will double by the end of the campaign, Susilo added. According to government statistics, Indonesia has 5.9 million disabled people, constituting 3.1 percent of the population.

Susilo said that neither the government nor business is currently able to provide special facilities for the disabled in factories or public places. He added, however, that attempts to improve the situation would begin soon.

He said intended to introduce legislation regarding employment, education and transportation for disabled people.

"It is not easy because we have to consider other agencies' readiness to implement the law once it has been passed," he said.

Susilo said that, according to data collected by the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of disabled people in Indonesia is about 19 million, or 10 percent of the population.

"The difference might have been caused by the use of different criteria for disability," he added.

Head of the Indonesian Association of Disabled People, Bahrawi, said that the countries who had participated in the conference would, from now on, forge cooperation using the Internet.

"Through the network, we hope that we will be able to exchange knowledge and experiences on the rehabilitation of disabled people," he said.

The problem for Indonesia, he said, is that the size of the country means that programs to support disabled people are very costly.

The conference, which was attended by 504 delegates from 46 countries, was closed by Susilo, who represented Siti Hardijanti Rukmana, chairwoman of the organizing committee.

The committee said that the next conference will be held in Hong Kong in three years time. (05)