Yogyakarta - According to a survey, only 26% of the Legislative Candidates (Caleg) running in the 2014 Election cared about disability issues. People with disabilities are still not considered an important issue. This is based on the results of a survey conducted directly by people with disabilities.
"From the research results in Bantul Regency involving 142 legislative candidates, 61.59 percent stated that they included disability issues in their party's vision and mission. However, only 26.81 percent actually incorporated these issues into their campaigns," said Ishak Salim, a researcher from the Sasana Integrasi dan Advokasi Difabel (SIGAB), during a public discussion titled "Political Alignment Towards People with Disabilities" in Yogyakarta, on Thursday, February 5, 2014.
SIGAB conducted a survey on the perceptions of legislative members in Bantul Regency, DI Yogyakarta, Makassar, Situbondo, and Balikpapan.
"Generally, in all the areas we surveyed, disability issues were not included in their campaigns," said Ishak. The survey used an interview method conducted by disability volunteers.
"The survey was conducted face-to-face, so there were no pre-arranged questions or answers." 42 percent of respondents were aged 40-49 years, and 58 percent were aged 30-39 years.
"This means the legislative candidates in Bantul Regency are relatively young," said Ishak. Meanwhile, the legislative candidates' understanding of the meaning of disability varied. In Bantul Regency, the term 'difabel' (people with disabilities) is more popular, while in Makassar and Balikpapan, the term 'penyandang cacat' (disabled people) is still widely used.
"Although the legislative candidates in Bantul were aware of the term 'difabel,' 55.80 percent of them admitted not knowing the difference between 'disabilitas' (disability) and 'difabel' (people with disabilities)." SIGAB Director, Joni Yulianto, acknowledged that there were still many shortcomings in the survey conducted.
"The survey was conducted by fellow volunteers who are also people with disabilities. The main point is that we want to provide an understanding of the conditions of the legislative candidates who will compete in the upcoming election," said Joni. Meanwhile, KPU DIY Commissioner, Faried Bambang, stated that KPU DIY had prepared braille templates for visually impaired voters.
"While the Central KPU prepared them only for the DPD (Regional Representative Council), we in DIY prepared assistive tools in the form of braille templates for voters with disabilities," said Faried. Legislative candidates are prospective representatives of the people to the government. It is only fitting that they understand the various issues concerning their constituents.
If they do not understand disability issues, it can be interpreted that people with disabilities are not yet considered citizens who need to be served. Therefore, all citizens need to be smart in exercising their voting rights in the 2014 Election. Only choose those who truly understand and are willing to serve their people. source: Viva News