Nurfika Osman – Activists have drawn up a set of guidelines meant to ensure people with disabilities are not shut out of future elections.
The guidelines were given on Thursday to officials at the country's main election organizers, the General Elections Commission (KPU) and the Elections Supervisory Board (Bawaslu).
Groups involved in the campaign hope these guidelines will prevent the kinds of incidents in past elections where people with disabilities were unable to cast their votes because of everything from a lack of access to not having the proper ballots.
"We are disabled, but it does not mean that we are unable to cast votes. That is a basic right as citizens and we have the same rights as anyone else in this country," Arianti Soekanwo, head of the Center for Election Access for Citizens with Disabilities (PPUA Penca), said on Thursday.
The group, along with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems and AusAID, prepared the book, "Election Access Guidelines: Ensuring the Participation of Political Access for People with Disabilities."
"People with disabilities are more likely to face social exclusion, including the inability to access information and participate in elections," Arianti said.
Many election officials responsible for drawing up lists of eligible voters, she added, were unaware of the rights of the physically challenged.
A PPUA Penca coordinator, Heppy Sebayang, said every step of the election process threw up challenges and roadblocks to people with disabilities.
"On the registration form, for example, there is no question asking specifically whether a person has a disability," he said. "This information is important. If we have the information about people with special needs, we can provide them special devices to make voting easier."
Another problem, Heppy said, is that many people with disabilities have trouble accessing information about candidates.
"I wish we could have closed captioning and sign language in television campaign ads so the disabled could understand the information," he said.
The KPU said it was ready to work with the group on ensuring access for people with disabilities.
"We are going to process this and we hope that we can start to implement what is in the guidelines in upcoming regional elections," said Saud Hutabarat, a KPU commissioner.
"These guidelines will help us ensure that all people with disabilities are able to exercise their rights," he said.
The national KPU, he added, with make sure all of its regional branches receive copies of the guidelines and implement their suggestions.
Rafendi Djamin, Indonesian commissioner to the Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, said the guidelines were a good step toward a more democratic country.
"By addressing the needs of people with disabilities, we are answering a fundamental principle, or non-discrimination principle, in order to have a better transition to democracy," he said.
The Ministry of Social Affairs said that in 2010, Indonesia was home to approximately three million people with disabilities.