Blind people protest eviction

Blind people protest eviction

JAKARTA: Sixty visually impaired people living in a home in
the Cawang area, East Jakarta, went to City Council on Thursday
to protest the administration's plan to move them to another
shelter in the Cengkareng area of West Jakarta.

Accompanied by several activists, including a priest,
Sandyawan, and Azas Tigor Nainggolan, Faqih, who is the group's
spokesman, said his friends were protesting the move since the
new shelter, the Panti Indra Cahaya Batin, was in a remote
location and lacked essential facilities for people who were
visually impaired.

Faqih said their current shelter, the Panti Taman Harapan,
which was sponsored by a Japanese foundation and an
internationally acclaimed training center for the blind here, had
trained hundreds of visually impaired people in various skills.

"The current training center has been closed by the
administration although they have contributed nothing to
developing this new home," he said.

The Taman Harapan home was formerly owned by the Ministry of
Social Affairs before it was handed over to the city
administration because of the regional autonomy program.

The administration plans to demolish the 2,911-square-meter
home to make way for the expansion of the nearby city-owned Budhi
Asih Hospital in Cawang. --JP