Blind Papuans ignored of their voting rights

Nethy Dharma Somba The Jakarta Post/Jayapura

As many Jayapura residents headed to polling stations to cast their votes in the city's mayoral election on Tuesday, it was business as usual at the Humania Foundation boarding house for the blind in Polimak.

Some 50 blind people living in the house with their families went about their daily routines, drinking coffee on the terrace or cleaning up.

"We've not been invited," 30-year-old Nataniel Numunes said when asked why he did not go to a voting booth.

Blind people in the city have been denied their right to vote for the past three national elections, their names left off voting registration lists after neither their carers nor the government bothered to register them.

"As citizens we have the right to vote but we've never been invited," said Nataniel, who was born blind and has been living in the house for five years.

When living in Biak, he could vote as his relatives had guided him through the voting process. "We could vote that way," he said.

Yosef Rumsarom, who has managed the house for seven years now, blamed the administration for not visiting the center and registering blind voters. "Although they are small in numbers they want to be appreciated like other normal people," he said.

Another resident in the house, Esther, said not being able to vote mean she felt excluded. "It seems like we're not even considered city residents because we're not asked to take part in selecting the city's leaders," said the woman, who was also born blind.

During the election campaigns, none of the candidates had come to visit them. "We're definitely not taken into account," Nataniel said.

Jayapura Election Committee (KPUD Jayapura) head Diedrick Kbarek, meanwhile, blamed the city's Office of Social Affairs for not providing the KPUD with data on the number and location of blind people.

"Since there was no report (on the numbers of blind people), we never ordered special ballot papers for them," he said.

On Tuesday, 13 municipalities and regencies in Papua began voting for their regional heads. The elections for the new Irian Jaya Barat and Papua provincial governors, meanwhile, are scheduled for July 27 and in October, respectively.

In Jayapura, the city center was quiet after Papua Governor JP Solossa declared election day a holiday in province on Monday.

With turnout numbers still uncertain, a total of 171,610 registered voters in four districts were eligible to vote at 457 polling stations on the day.

Solossa voted at TPS 01 polling station in Trikora Dok V Atas subdistrict in Jayapura. He called for peaceful elections and urged residents to vote for capable leaders.

Four pairs of candidates are contesting the mayoral and deputy mayor posts in the landmark elections.

They are MR Kambu-H Sudjarwo (Golkar-Democratic-United Development Party); JI Renjaan-Arobi Ahmad Aituaraw (coalition of five parties including Prosperous Peace Party and Indonesian Democratic Vanguard Party); Rustan Saru-Otniel Meraudje (Prosperous Justice Party); and Musa Youwe-Nur Alam (coalition of nine small parties including National Mandate Party and the National Awakening Party).

As of 7 p.m. local time, or 5 p.m. Jakarta time, provisional vote counting showed the MR Kambu-H Sudjarwo team was leading with 18,738 votes, followed by JI Renjaan-Arobi with 15,743 votes, Musa-Nur Alam with 13,135, and Rustan-Otniel with 10,279 votes.