Disabled demand House revise the election bill

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).