Disabled woman wins case against mayor

Disabled woman wins case against mayor

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Being different does not only put people in the spotlight,
sometimes it puts them in a court of law fighting discrimination
against a powerful mayor.

For 32-year-old Wuri Handayani, who lives with a disability,
won her lawsuit at the Surabaya State Administrative Court
against the mayor, Bambang Dwihartono, in a case of
discrimination, after his decree banned her from applying to
become a civil servant.

The court verdict was issued on Wednesday by the panel
presided over by Judge Ibrahim.

"We accept the suit against the mayor because he is
responsible for the recruitment process of civil servants,"
Ibrahim said as quoted by Antara.

The judges however, cleared another defendant, the city's
civil servant recruitment committee, "as it was simply doing its
duty and obeying the mayor's edicts".

The court ruling effectively states that there was
discrimination involved in denying Wuri the right to apply for a
position as a civil servant.

The defendant claimed that a November 2004 letter that barred
her, was based on a decree on recruitment procedures for civil
servants in the city, which bans "unhealthy" candidates.

However, the judges ruled that the ban on Wuri, who is
paralyzed from the waist down and uses a wheelchair, was a direct
violation of the 1945 Constitution.

It also breaches Law No. 4/1997 on the disabled as well as Law
No. 13/2003 on manpower, they added. Law No. 4/1997 specifically
states that the disabled must receive equal opportunities in all
aspects of life.

The court also ordered the mayor to issue a new decree to
allow the plaintiff to take part in exams for new civil servants
in the next recruitment period.

The verdict was based on testimonies from three disabled
people who had been accepted as civil servants in East Java.

The mayor's lawyer, Made Kusmana, said that his client would
file an appeal and was given 14 days by the court to do so.

Wuri said that her victorious fight would be followed up by
encouraging others at the National Disabled Convention scheduled
on May 29 in Surabaya.

"This small effort will not be the end of the fight," she
added. "But, I do hope that this could be the starting point for
other people living with disabilities to fight for their rights."

Wuri's win in court received praise from many others,
including East Java's Indonesian Disabled Association (PPCI)
chairman Made Dharmika and Suparto Widjojo, who is a lecturer at
Airlangga University, Surabaya.

"It's the first time that a disabled person won a lawsuit
against a mayor and it will encourage other disabled people, who
have been discriminated against professionally, economically or
educationally, to file similar suits," Dharmika said, adding that
the verdict shows that the disabled are not second-class
citizens.

Last year, former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid sued
the National Elections Commission (KPU) for discrimination after
he was barred from running for president. But the partially blind
former president lost the lawsuit and was not allowed to run.

Human rights activists have declared that the disabled are as
"healthy" as other people and therefore using such requirements
to deny them their rights is a form of discrimination.