Govt makes token efforts for disabled people

Rusman, The Jakarta Post/Samarinda

With the aid of crutches under both arms, Sasmoyo, 31, has to proceed tediously to the Samarinda municipal office.

He ascends the staircase step by step, perspiring profusely.

"There's no other way in except this stairway. There's no special facilities for the disabled. You can see for yourself how hard it is to walk up a flight of stairs one step at a time. I feel like I am dying," he said.

Not only is the flight of stairs leading to the office exhausting to climb, officials there sometimes consider him a beggar. According to him, not all disabled people beg for money at government offices. He deplores the attitude that many people have that considers disabled people incapable of doing what able people can do.

In the East Kalimantan capital of Samarinda, only a few government buildings and shopping centers include special facilities for disabled persons, including the gubernatorial office, health office and a few shopping malls.

There is no such facility at the Samarinda municipal office. Disabled persons have to go up a flight of stairs to enter the building, likewise at the East Kalimantan legislative building, where a ramp for those using wheelchairs is nonexistent, despite the massive funds used to build the building.

This has prompted Sasmoyo and 300 other disabled persons, grouped in East Kalimantan's Indonesian Disabled Persons Association (PCCI), to file several protest letters with the local administration, not only about the special facilities, but also about equal rights to employment. The latest letter of protest was lodged in conjunction with the International Day of Disabled Persons on Dec. 3.

However, there has been no response yet from the administration.

To make ends meet, Sasmoyo and his colleagues have set up a small business in an unused house lent to them by the Samarinda Social Welfare Office. They turned the 200-square meter house into a motorcycle workshop and photocopy shop.

"We forked out a large sum for start-up capital and received a small amount of cash assistance from the government. We can survive this way and don't have to resort to begging," he said.

Meanwhile, assistant to the governor for development and social welfare of the East Kalimantan Social Welfare Office, Nusyirwan Ismail, acknowledged the administration had not adequately heeded the plight of the disabled.

However, he said that his office had taken note of their needs, especially regarding support facilities, as was shown in a circular requiring government and private buildings to build special facilities for the disabled, although it was not well received.

"There will be a time when the shortcomings in every sector will be overcome," he said.

"Regarding their right to work as civil servants or private sector employees, this depends on the authority and capacity of the respective parties," said Nusyirwan.