Voting facilities for the blind unprepared

Voting facilities for the blind unprepared

JAKARTA (JP): Members of the Committee of Indonesian Advocates
for the Disabled (Kapci) questioned on Monday the city's
readiness to provide voting facilities for the blind.

Five people, three of them physically disabled, met with
Djafar Badjeber, a chairman of the Provincial Elections Committee
(PPD I), to ask for an explanation on how PPD I was going to deal
with this dilemma for the June 7 general election in the capital.

"Out of about 900,000 physically disabled people here, some
400,000 are blind. That's a lot of votes Pak Djafar... Can the
city afford to neglect us this time?" asked Kapci member Santi
Setiawati, 23.

Santi explained that in 1997 the blind were given only three
choices in braille.

"There was one hole for the United Development Party (PPP),
two for Golkar and three for the Indonesian Democratic Party
(PDI). The government made it so easy for us to vote," she said.

"Now, there are 48 parties. What method is going to be used by
the government this time?"

Santi said she personally met National Elections Committee
(PPI) chairman Jacob Tobing on Friday, who told her the
commission had "not anticipated" the problem as yet.

"So, what is the point of us registering to vote then?" she
asked.

Santi said Kapci had received feedback from its branches in 10
cities and five provinces across the country, reporting that many
blind voters wanted to register but they had not heard of any
"voting facilities" prepared for them.

She mentioned that among facilities to be prepared for
physically disabled voters were voting booth doors which should
be at least one meter wide to allow a person in a wheelchair to
enter and vote.

Santi said there were about 20 million physically disabled
people in Indonesia, according to a 1994 survey conducted by the
World Health Organization.

Another survey conducted by the Ministry of Social Services
states that there are 6.3 million physically disabled people in
Indonesia.

"Of them, about 1.8 million are blind. The annual growth rate
of blind people in Indonesia, according to this survey, is
200,000 people," she said.

Djafar said one solution to be considered was that a blind
voter could be accompanied by two or three "helpers" to help him
or her vote.

When contacted about the issue, Jacob was not too sure such a
practice would work.

"There is nothing that can be done about this problem since we
have come to know of it too late.

"A person accompanying a blind voter would be a person
selected by the blind voter himself or herself, no one else,"
Jacob told The Jakarta Post over the phone.

When asked if this could guarantee that the wrong political
party would not be picked on behalf of a blind person, Djafar
simply said that if that happened, then the person's "helper"
would never be forgiven by God.

Santi suggested that members of a blind voter's family could
be helpers of the blind person.

"This, too, would not actually guarantee that the actual
choice of the voter is made," she said.

Djafar added that he would personally look into the matter.

"As chairman of PPD I and head of the PPP's Jakarta chapter, I
will definitely look into this, particularly about the provision
of forms in braille."

Meanwhile, Ujang, a member of Kapci's Jakarta office, said the
next elected Cabinet must consider providing facilities for the
physically disabled in universities, schools, mosques, hospitals,
post offices and other public buildings in Indonesia.

"There are several buildings here that do not provide room in
elevators or ramps for wheelchairs... that is the least the new
government should be able to do for us," Santi said. (ylt)