Ghina Ghaliya, Jakarta – A coalition of disability rights groups has turned to the Supreme Court to challenge a number of articles they deemed problematic under a presidential regulation issued by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo on the National Disabilities Commission (KND).
The National Coalition Working Group on the Implementation of the Law on People with Disabilities argued that some provisions in the presidential regulation, Perpres No. 68/2020, contradicted at least four prevailing laws.
They included Law No. 19/2011 on the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), Law No. 8/2016 on people with disabilities, Law No. 39/1999 on human rights and Law No. 12/2011 on the drafting of laws and regulation.
"We have submitted a judicial review petition to the court. We urge the President to stop the process to fill the positions at the KND and wait for the court's decision," the coalition said in a statement on Thursday.
According to the coalition, Article 7 of the regulation – which allocates only four out of seven seats in the KND's membership for disabled people – is limiting people with disabilities from become members of the commission.
The regulation also places the disabilities commission as a work unit under the Social Affairs Ministry, a provision that the coalition feared would tarnish the independence of the commission itself.
They pointed out that under the 2016 law on people with disabilities, the KND is categorized as an independent and non-structural institution tasked with monitoring, evaluating and advocating for the protection and fulfillment of the rights of the disabled.
The coalition also accused the government of not having fulfilled the principle of "applicable" and "openness" during the making of the Perpres, as is required under the 2011 law.
"The Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Ministry has never conducted public dissemination in the drafting process of the disabilities commission regulation, and has never officially published the draft," they said.
In February, the coalition met with Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Minister Tjahjo Kumolo, during which the minister promised to review the draft, but they claimed there had not been further communication since.
They also called on the House of Representatives to oversee the KND's establishment since it has yet to meet the disabled people's aspirations, noting that 140 disability rights organizations from across the country had signed a petition to urge the President to revise the regulation.