Rights for the disabled

In a summation for individual human rights of Indonesian people with disabilities, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) has officially became president of the Republic of Indonesia on Oct. 20.

I am a 52-year-old Swiss. I have been disabled since birth, have never walked and am now living happily in Bali. I feel happy about the choice of the Indonesian people.

I hope, that SBY will always be aware of the fact, that in "Indonesia's society" there is a "majority" that has the right to democracy, but there is also a "minority" in the society of this country -- the disabled -- who unfortunately need special rights in proper democracy?

I know, that sometimes disabled people in Bali are tied up (say beneath human dignity) and just vegetate. I wish for individual rights for disabled Indonesians (I repeat individual rights), for example, in Switzerland I was forced to live in a "home for invalid persons" (in Switzerland this is an official term).

I hope SBY meant what he said before his election that people with disabilities have the same rights as all other people in Indonesia, something that became possible for me in Switzerland (only after I had fled the country).

Indonesia is a poor country. Providing for heavily handicapped people does not cost as much as in Switzerland, where non- disabled people (unfairly, I am talking about mafia) earn a lot of money from disabled people like me.

CHRISTOPH EGGLI, Kuta, Bali