Disabled workers insist on living at a workshop

JAKARTA (JP): Eighty-two married disabled workers and 233 of their relatives are breaking regulations and insisting on living in a squalid and overcrowded dormitory at the Swa Prasidya Purna industrial workshop for the handicapped on Jl. Cempaka Putih Raya, Central Jakarta.

"We have no other place to live. Some of us who used to rent houses have been forced to move to the dormitory even though only single workers are allowed to live there," Agus, whose left leg is crippled, told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

He said he could not afford to live in rented housing any longer because he had not been paid since August.

The workshop, which was chaired by former president Soeharto's half brother Probosutedjo, required its married workers to live outside the dormitory.

But as the economic situation continued to deteriorate, the married workers were forced to return to the dormitory after Probosutedjo closed the workshop on Aug. 1, citing bankruptcy.

The 15-room dormitory has been neglected and many of its roofs leak.

Dozens of ceramic machines and two printing machines have been abandoned and now lie idle gathering dust.

Wild grass grows in the once beautifully manicured garden of the dormitory compound.

"Musician Rhoma Irama once used this garden to shoot one of his films," Agus recalled.

He said the workshop, which is located on a 2.8-hectare plot of land, was no longer safe, especially at night.

One of the workshop's machines was stolen last month, he said.

Nearby residents now use an empty area in the compound as a soccer pitch, he said.

He said people used to be afraid of entering the workshop because they knew it was owned by the Yayasan Harapan Kita foundation which was chaired by former president Soeharto.

"We let them play soccer here now as long as they don't disturb us," Agus, who has recently become a newspaper seller, said.

He said some disabled workers worked as maids or beverage sellers. "Thank God none of us have ended up on the streets begging."

Another disabled man named Lasono said that he was forced to send his wife and two children to his hometown of Klaten in Central Java last month.

"I can't afford to pay my daughter's elementary school fees," Lasono, 35, said.

The workers used to be paid between Rp 80,000 (US$7.45) and Rp 200,000 a month at the workshop.

The workers' leader, Dinten Supriyadi, said that he had collected Rp 3 million in donation, but that this was not enough for the workers and their families.

Supriyadi estimated that his group needed Rp 20 million a month until they could take over the workshop from Yayasan Harapan Kita.

"Maybe people only see the big buildings of the workshop. But many people in the dormitory are starting to starve," he said.

He, therefore, urged people to give donations, especially in the form of basic food, or to send money to the group's account: 301-29129-20 in Bank Muamalat.

The workers, who called themselves the Reform Committee for the Handicapped, has asked the government to help them continue to run the workshop.

They had heard that the workshop was sold by its owner to a property developer for the construction of a tennis court and apartment blocks.

The workshop was founded by Soeharto's wife, the late Tien Soeharto and inaugurated in 1975.

All of the workshop employees were recruited from the Prof. Dr. Suharso Rehabilitation Center for the Handicapped in Surakarta, Central Java. The first were recruited as early as 1973. (jun)