A

community of blind people in Bali has asked the Bali General Elections Commission (KPUD) to educate it on the voting process and ballot marking, to help its members make the right choices in the April 9 legislative elections.

I Gusti Ngurah Komang Aryana, chairman of the Indonesian Blind People's Association's (Pertuni) Denpasar office, said that unlike the 1999 elections, the Bali KPUD had yet to educate the blind this year on how the voting process worked or what the contents of the ballots would be like.

"So far, only the Denpasar KPUD has given some theoretical education, without showing the actual form of the ballots or the way to mark them," Aryana said Thursday at the Dria Raba School for the disabled in Denpasar, referring to the newer checkbox method that supersedes the older punching method.

In 1999, he went on, blind people were well incorporated in the voting education process, with KPUDs reaching out to schools for the disabled and disabled communities to educate them directly on the electoral process.

"But to date, we still don't know what this year's ballot will feel like, or whether we can vote alone or with a helper," Aryana said.

He also asked the KPUD to allow the blind to bring self-appointed assistants to help them vote, noting the ballots would not feature Braille letters.

"The KPUD must grant us the right to bring our own assistants to check the ballots," he said, citing that in previous elections, the blind were usually accompanied by polling station supervisors.

"We're afraid they might misinterpret our choice. This is also the reason why many blind people are choosing not to vote."

There are thousands of blind people in Bali, but only 300 are registered voters. Aryana said he had learned about the electoral process this year by himself and through the media.

"Now I've learned that even the government is still arguing about the voting mechanism. So how are we, as disabled people, are supposed to decide?" he said.

Willy Praja Lesmana, 24, a blind man currently studying at the Denpasar State Hindu Dharma Institute, raised similar concerns.

"We need to know who the legislative and presidential candidates are. I'll join the electoral process if I know more about who I'm voting for," he said.

He added he knew nothing about the candidates or which ones had reached out to the disabled.

"If the candidates don't pay us any attention in their programs, the rights of the disabled for work and education will be harder to attain," Willy said.

Udi Prayudi, a member of the Bali KPUD on education, admitted that polls body had yet to schedule any education and simulation programs for the disabled. "We're waiting for the regional KPUDs to conduct education and simulation programs. If they decide not to do so, we will take over," Udi said.

He added the Bali KPUD was having trouble keeping up with a flurry of changes by the government on voting methods, and blamed that for the poor voter education.

"Besides the disabled, we are also trying to reach out to the elderly," he said.