Disabled demand House revise the election bill

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Activists are calling on the House of Representatives to revise several articles in the election bill to protect the right of 20 million disabled people to vote and be elected as representatives.

Vice chairman of the 2004 Election Committee for the Disabled Heppy Sebayang said the articles that needed to be reviewed included those on legislator candidacy, voting guidelines and access to voting for all.

"We propose universal points to be included in the bill. It will be a great achievement for the country if the House accepts our idea," Heppy, also a legal expert at the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (PBHI), said at the sidelines of a workshop on political access for the disabled.

Heppy, himself disabled, went on to say if it was too difficult for the House to revise all articles affecting the disabled, the House must ensure it revises one: that requiring legislative candidates to be physically and mentally healthy and able to communicate in spoken and written Bahasa Indonesia.

"The article is a barrier to the disabled to be nominated as candidates for the legislature," he said.

"We demand a clear, written explanation of the article that the disabled doesn't mean physically unhealthy, and communication in the Indonesian language should include the ability to read braille."

Heppy argued that as long as a disabled person had a healthy heart and the ability to think and communicate well, he or she should be eligible as a candidate for the legislature.

Speaking at the workshop, House Deputy Speaker Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) welcomed the proposal, saying that the special committee deliberating the election bill would follow it up.

"The rights of the disabled must be protected. They must be able to vote and be voted for without difficulty, as would be the case for able-bodied people," he said.

The House has been deliberating the election bill in the past few months and is expected to endorse it by the end of this year.

If the House revised the articles affecting the disabled, Indonesia would become one of a few countries in the world that recognize the rights of the disabled to participate in the political process, said Center for Electoral Reform (CETRO) director Hadar N. Gumay.

"They (the disabled) should continue to persuade the House to meet their demands," he said.

Other articles that need revision include the one that stipulates only election officials may assist the disabled when exercising their voting rights.

The article ought to be revised to ensure that the disabled had the right to choose their own guide.

The election committee for the disabled also demanded that the bill clearly stipulate penalties, such as a five-year sentence for guides who misused their power.

The committee also demanded that the bill guarantee easier access for disabled people to vote on voting day by, for instance, providing ballot papers with braille characters and specific signs for the poorly sighted.

Members of the committee included a number of organizations of disabled such as the Indonesian Blind People's Association (Pertuni), the Movement for the Welfare of Indonesian Deaf People (Gerkatin), the Indonesian Disabled Association (PPCI) and the Indonesian Disabled Women's Association (HWTCI).