Jakarta not friendly for disabled: Survey

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A survey has proven the obvious, that Jakarta is not a friendly place for the disabled as a majority of buildings and public places in the city do not provide adequate facilities for them.

The survey -- jointly conducted by the Indonesian Disabled Women's Association (HWPCI), the Indonesian Paraplegia Foundation (Yamagita), Trisakti University and the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Architectural Association (IAI) -- revealed none of the 36 buildings, used as samples in the January survey, were accessible to nearly 10,000 disabled people in the capital.

With samples covering bus stations, hospitals, the city's five mayoralty offices, apartments, universities, mosques, churches, entertainment centers, commercial places and railway stations, the survey made it clear that bus stations, universities and worship houses had the worst record. However, Gambir railway station in Central Jakarta was recognized as the best in providing facilities for the disabled.

No significant action has been taken by the authority and private sectors since former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid launched a national campaign for accessibility for the disabled on June 4, 2000.

The main reason for not providing the facilities was simply economics.

"When we questioned building management officials why they failed to fulfill the technical requirement (for the disabled), they claimed it was because very few disabled visited their buildings, and was therefore not economically viable," said Poppy Puspitasari of the Trisakti University in a seminar on Tuesday.

Yamagita's deputy chairman Ibrahim Encep Kasroni was pessimistic that such a campaign "would get a positive response from local authorities in the near future".

Encep said a decree from the ministry of public works on technical requirements for accessibility in public buildings and environment issued in 1998 states that a region needs to issue a bylaw to enact the campaign.

However, no specific bylaw has been enacted by the Jakarta Administration. One bylaw, No. 7/1991 on buildings in the city only states that "the governor can stipulate requirements about instruments and equipment for the disabled."

The existing gubernatorial decree issued in 1981 failed to support the bylaw as it does not contain punishment for those violating the requirement. It also only outlines basic technical requirements for accessibility.

Facilities for the physically challenged, as mentioned in the decree, include ramps to enter buildings, special elevators, railing, special toilets, ramps to enter buses, special garages and other public transportation and special telephone booths.

Facilities for blind people include special texture and bright color for dangerous areas and elevator buttons with Braille. While for the deaf, facilities should include special hearing aids, radio and television text and the use of acoustic materials.