T

he Indonesian Child Protection Task Force is expanding its safe holiday travel focus to include the disabled this year, with a pre-holiday campaign and the establishment of assistance posts in Jakarta, Bandung, Majalengka, Bengkulu and Pontianak.

'€œThis is part of our effort to provide input to the government and legislators who are now processing the disability bill. We represent the disabled who feel that their right to decent transportation and infrastructure has been ignored by the government,'€ said Ilma Sovri Yanti, national coordinator of the Friendly Exodus for Children and the Disabled (MRAD) program.

Ilma added that the campaign, which ran until July 14, targeted transportation facilities and infrastructure providers, such as the government and the private sector, as well as people who plan to travel with children or disabled individuals.

'€œWe have been checking the available transportation infrastructure since Friday and distributing booklets of tips on how to create a friendly exodus for minors and how to treat disabled travelers in Jakarta, Bandung, Majalengka, Bengkulu and Pontianak,'€ she said.

She went on to say that beside the information campaigns, Bandung, Cirebon and Pontianak will have assistance posts.

After auditing several bus terminals, a harbor and an airport in Greater Jakarta since Friday, MRAD has yet to note any direct government assistance in providing transportation facilities and infrastructure for children and the disabled.

'€œWe have talked to the Social Affairs Ministry and the Transportation Ministry about the issue for them to follow up,'€ Ilma told The Jakarta Post.

Ilma said that there were no toilets for the disabled in the Pulo Gadung and Kampung Rambutan terminals in East Jakarta. Tanjung Priok harbor, meanwhile, has such facilities but they are locked, in disrepair and unused. The ones in the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport are also locked, making it hard for the disabled to access them as required under Public Minister Works Regulation No. 30/2006.

Ridwan Sumantri, who uses a wheelchair, expressed his concern.

'€œThe government should involve communities of the disabled in the planning and monitoring of construction of facilities for us because many of them did not meet the technical requirements for accessibility,'€ Ridwan said, adding that good facilities could help the disabled be independent, comfortable and safe.

He added that Indonesia is not friendly at all to people with disabilities.

'€œI can'€™t take public transportation. I have to go in a private car every time I want to go to my hometown in Sukabumi and toilets in most of the rest areas on the highway are not disabled-friendly,'€ he said.

Rifah Zainani, the mother of a deaf girl, said that Indonesians in general do not know how to treat the disabled well.

'€œThe sympathy that they have is usually pity, not a form of action that enables them to be independent,'€ Rifah said.

MRAD coordinator Ilma said that child safety should also be prioritized by the government because the holiday season always brings a high number of traffic accidents.

'€œThe last accident on the Cipali highway on July 6 claimed the lives of two minors,'€ she said.

The National Police recorded 3,057 accidents during the exodus in 2014. Of these, 650 accidents claimed lives, while 1,045 caused major injuries and 1,045 minor ones. (rbk)