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