Jakarta, June 03: Disabled people in Indonesia voiced their concern and complaint that there are still  scant access for them in public places 10 years after late president Abdurrahman Wahid officially declared a movement to increase their accessibility to public facilities and transportation, called the National Public Accessibility Movement (GAUN).

"The realization [of the movement] has been minimal," former transportation minister Agum Gumelar  said in Jakarta on Thursday in an event to celebrate a decade of the movement.

Around 50 disabled people, including those on wheelchairs and with visual impairments, gathered and tested the accessibility in one of the city's public transportation facilities –  the Transjakarta Bus.

Upon the testing, those on wheelchairs discovered that they had to be carried up the stairway, which was at least over three meters high, leading to the bus shelter because there wasn't any special ramp for them.

"The fact is that after 10  years of GAUN, the movement have gone soft. It's saddening," Agum said.

Saharuddin Daming, the head of the National Commission for Human Rights' Sub-Commission of Education and Awareness Development, called on the same event for the establishment of a national accessibility commission.

"The commission will have the right to conduct monitoring and research and give input [to the government about accessibility]," he said.
According to Saharuddin, the commission receives roughly 100 files of complaints each year from disabled people who said that they have been discriminated in jobseeking or higher education seeking process.


Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/