Disabled voters hope for better arrangement
Tiarma Siboro and Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Tangerang
People with a variety of disabilities did their best to exercise their constitutional rights but hoped that arrangements would be better the next time round.
Blind people, in a number of places, spent up to 30 minutes casting their votes. Antara quoted blind voters in Denpasar, Bali, as saying that the General Elections Commission (KPU) should have provided ballot papers in braille.
"I'm blind and my hearing is not so good either. It was so difficult to hear my assistant, as he whispered to me the names of political parties and legislative candidates listed on the ballot papers," said Ngurah Sujendra, 35, who was assisted by his teacher while he cast his vote.
Others added that apart from ballot papers in braille, they needed information on the legislative candidates in braille long before the election took place. This was to ensure not only their confidentiality in voting but also to be informed as well as possible about the choices available to them.
The commission has said that ballot papers in braille will only be available for the direct presidential election, scheduled for July 5. In 1999 the government also failed to provide ballot papers in braille for some 1.8 million blind voters, citing the lack of funds.
Former Abdurrahman Wahid, or Gus Dur, who is partly blind, and his wife, who uses a wheelchair, were assisted when voting at the polling station in front of their home in Ciganjur, South Jakarta. Gus Dur was assisted by his daughter, Zannuba Arifah Chafsoh Rahman. He is a founder of the National Awakening Party (PKB), which has named him as its presidential candidate.
In Bekasi, West Java, people with disabilities complained about the large, broadsheet size of the ballot papers.
"I cannot use my right hand, so I needed my son to help me open the papers," Siswadi said just after he left a polling station in Pekayon Jaya, South Bekasi.
In Tangerang, some 1,000 lepers went by pedicab to five polling stations at the Sitanala Leprosy Hospital complex in Karangsari subdistrict.
"Although we cannot walk and have lost fingers and toes, we were happy to vote because election committee members helped us," said Deddy, 39, one of the lepers.
Deddy also lost his sight in 1999. He contracted leprosy in 1984.
Committee members at the hospital complex also included lepers.
One of them, Hamid Balakoli, said, "I'm happy to help the others although my leg has also been affected by leprosy."
Those accompanying people with disabilities at the polling booths were requested to sign notices saying that they had assisted or voted on behalf of the concerned voter. Apart from the blind and those in wheelchairs, such voters also included people who were recovering from stroke.