Disability bill to get clearance in 1997

Disability bill to get clearance in 1997

JAKARTA (JP): Legislators were optimistic yesterday the long
awaited bill on disability, currently under deliberation, would
be passed next January despite several glaring shortcomings.

Khofifah Indar Parawansa of the United Development Party (PPP)
and Oelfah A.S. Ismanto of Golkar said the bill must be passed
soon because people with disabilities need it and have been
waiting for it for years.

Khofifah said the bill still lacks penalties for dealing with
organizations in all fields which discriminate against people
with a disability. Without this provision offenders in all
fields, including education, cannot be punished, she said.

Schools of Psychology in several universities, for instance,
still refuse to accept students in wheelchairs, she said.

"That is not fair. Physical disability does not affect a
person's learning ability," she said.

Minister of Social Services Endang Kusuma Inten Suweno
presented the bill on abilities to the House of Representatives
in July.

Under the terms of the bill companies refusing to employ
disabled workers face a maximum prison sentence of five years or
a fine of up to Rp 100 million (US$42,553).

But the bill fails to specify what facilities or terms
companies must offer their disabled workers.

"These details need to be specified so judges can decide
penalties," she said.

"Without sanctions it is impossible to achieve the goals of
the bill, which is to give disabled people equal rights and
opportunities. People with disabilities also have a right to
become legislators," she said.

Ideally the bill would specify how many disabled people a
company should employ. The government should stipulate that 1
percent of each company's workforce must be recruited from the
pool of disabled workers, she said.

Official 1995 statistics state that Indonesia has 5.9 million
disabled people, 3.1 percent of the population.

Indonesia seeks to provide the 60 percent of its disabled
citizens who are physically able to work with equal rights to
employment by 2002.

Khofifah criticized the government-sponsored bill for shifting
responsibility for disabled welfare to the community. The 1945
Constitution specifically stipulates the government is fully
responsible for the disabled, she said.

"The community and private sector are only expected to
participate in helping the disabled... not to take over the
responsibility," Khofifah said.

"The bill needs to clearly define the government's
responsibilities for the disabled," she said.

Oelfah agreed but said the bill must not be "too harsh" and
should be passed soon because "the disabled have been waiting for
it for years." (ste)