Dozens of visually impaired students were forced to vacate their dormitory at the Wyata Guna Social Rehabilitation Center for the Blind (BRSPDSN) in Bandung, West Java, on Tuesday evening, leaving at least 30 of them homeless.

The evictions followed a change of nomenclature for Wyata Guna — the oldest special education provider in Indonesia — from being a social house to becoming strictly a rehabilitation center. The status change was based on Social Affairs Ministerial Decree No. 18/2018 on technical operations of social rehabilitation.

“We don’t take any issue with whether [the institution] will end up being a social house or a [rehabilitation] center, but what’s the solution [to our situation]? Don’t disabled people have a right to express their opinions?” said Elda Fahmi, one of the students driven out of Wyata Guna.

Some of the students have since tried to find a kost (rooming house) or other forms of accommodation, while about 30 others who do not have enough money were forced to spend Wednesday night on a sidewalk in front of the rehabilitation center on Jl. Pajajaran.

Some volunteers and members of the public helped the students set up tarpaulin tents and provided them with food and blankets. Near the sidewalk, two ambulances and health officers were on standby.

West Java Deputy Governor Uu Ruzhanul Ulum had offered to let the students stay in dormitories near the province’s Social Affairs Office in Cimahi, Bandung regency. The students declined the offer, noting the dorm’s lack of facilities for the visually impaired and its location, which is far from their campus.  

“We need a facility that could give us education, assistance and rehabilitation, not merely a stop-by place for sleeping,” Elda said.  

Elda, a 20-year-old student majoring in counseling at the Siliwangi Teachers’ Training Institute (IKIP), claimed the eviction happened quickly without any prior attempt at negotiation by the management.

Every student living in the dorm was forced to vacate the rooms, he said. “Personal items belonging to the students were thrown out, as well as chairs, bedding and other furniture provided by the government,” Elda claimed.

The eviction began on Jan. 9, when employees at the rehabilitation center began clearing out rooms in the male wing of the dormitory, according to Elda.

“They said the rehabilitation center would no longer offer services to [visually impaired] students other than for rehabilitation. The situation has been like that since last year. Visually impaired students like myself were forced to leave the dorm,” he said.

Elda claimed the management gave them only two weeks to find proper housing, as opposed to a one-month period proposed by Elda and his peers.

Siti, another evicted student majoring in the Indonesian language at IKIP Siliwangi, said she was shocked to find employees of the rehabilitation center forcefully clearing out four dorm rooms.

“Those of us who were still in the dorm at the time rushed into the only room that had yet to be cleared out,” said Siti, who suffers from low vision.

“I’m currently staying at my friend’s place not far from here. I have nowhere else to go.”

Wyata Guna head, Sudarsono, explained that the new nomenclature was a response to regional autonomy regulations, which place the responsibility for formal education on local governments. Under the new status, Wyata Guna can only hold short courses.  

“We can only offer a rehabilitation program for the visually impaired with a maximum period of six months,” he said, adding that the center supported a longer learning period for elementary and junior high school students.

Sudarsono said that the center had notified university students and high school graduates in July last year that they would need to move out.

“They demanded to stay after we gave them a letter of termination in early July. We still provided food until we had to cut it in August because we didn’t have enough financial support. However, even after we reissued the letter in December, we still let them stay until the end of the year,” Sudarsono told The Jakarta Post.

He added that the social rehabilitation was expected to receive some new applicants this January. Thus, it became necessary for the committee to provide space for the newcomers who would be getting some physical therapy, psychosocial learning, students and parents assistance and capability enhancement on shiatsu and bartender skills.

“We are welcoming about 100 new students, disabled people more than 18 years old, for the new semester starting January. Where do we have to put them if the overstaying students remain?” he said while noting the four-hectare facility had a maximum capacity of 175 people.  

“We had a dialogue with those who didn’t want to leave and we are ready to help if they need us to pack or to deliver their stuff to a new home,” Darsono said.

Separately, Edi Suharto, the social rehabilitation director general at the Social Affairs Ministry, said he regretted media reports that put the blame on the ministry and Wyata Guna.

“It’s them who didn’t want to leave. They already graduated from school and their learning period in Wyata Guna was over,” he said.

Wyata Guna, formerly known as the Blinden Instituut en de Werk Inrichting voor Blinde Inlanders te Bandoeng, was founded in 1902 during the Dutch colonial occupation of Indonesia. It sits on a plot of land donated by Karel Albert Rudolf Bosscha — a planter and administrator of the Malabar Plantation in Bandung. In 1926, the facility taught fine motor skills and sensory skills to 380 visually impaired students. (rfa/trn)

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