Access sough for disabled voters

Access sough for disabled voters

JAKARTA: Social affairs minister Bachtiar Chamsyah has called
on the General Elections Commission (KPU) to provide adequate
facilities for disabled voters so that they can exercise their
rights in the 2004 election.

"The provision of facilities for disabled voters will reflect
equal rights to vote as between disabled and other voters,"
Bachtiar said on Sunday.

Some six to eight million out of 12 million disabled persons
in Indonesia --including the blind, deaf, and the handicapped--
are eligible to vote in the 2004 elections.

Article 88 of Law No. 12/2003 on elections stipulates that
voting booths must be easily accessible to disabled voters. The
law also guarantees that each voter can vote directly, freely and
confidentially.

"The voting booths must be put in a place that can be reached
by a handicapped person's wheelchair, and if necessary there must
be instructions in braille for the blind and trained officers to
help the deaf," Bachtiar said.

According to Bachtiar, his ministry has also asked regents and
mayors to help provide facilities for the disabled in their
respective jurisdictions. -- Antara