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accessible infrastructure and to create obstacle-free environments for them,” Jokowi said on
Thursday.
“We must use the commemoration of the International Day of Disability as an opportunity to lay
a strong foundation for the protection of people with disabilities taking a human rights approach
instead of a charity approach.”

Jokowi said he had signed four government regulations this year to support people with
disabilities, including those requiring education institutions to provide facilities for inclusive
education and requiring courts to improve access to justice for people with disabilities.

One of the regulations requires courts to provide infrastructure such as wheelchairs, sign
language translators, ramps and guiding blocks. It also allows people with disabilities to face
court proceedings without guardianship and for their testimonies to be heard and used as
evidence in court.

Another regulation was signed by Jokowi in July to protect their right to housing and public
services and provide protection from disasters. It stipulates, for instance, requirements for
housing developers to provide facilities for disabled people.

On Oct. 13, Jokowi also signed a regulation that requires regional administrations to have a
disability service unit (ULD) on manpower that provides support for the employment of people
with disabilities. This includes the provision of equipment to support disabled workers.

People with disabilities in Jakarta have said that while new buildings have provided sufficient
facilities and physical infrastructure for them, the operation and maintenance of such inclusive
infrastructure were still lacking, as is the responsibility that needs to be incorporated into the
training of authorities.

In his speech for world disability day, Jokowi also made much of the issuance of the presidential
regulation on the National Disabilities Commission ( KND) in June that places the commission as
a work unit under the Social Affairs Ministry.

But even then, the regulation came as a surprise to disability rights groups from across the
country, which claimed they were kept in the dark about the deliberation of its problematic
provisions.

They said the KND should not be put under the ministry, whose purview does not include human
rights issues, urging the government to place the KND under the Law and Human Rights Ministry
or the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).

The prevailing 2016 law on people with disabilities categorizes the KND as an independent and
nonstructural institution tasked with monitoring, evaluating and advocating for the protection
and fulfillment of the rights of the disabled.

The groups filed a petition challenging the regulation with the Supreme Court in August.

They also criticized the potential conflicts of interest between the KND and the ministry, whose
work will often be the target of evaluation, monitoring and advocacy by the KND itself.

Another reason the groups object to the new regulation is that it limits opportunities for disabled
people to participate in the KND by allocating only four out of seven seats in the commission’s
membership for disabled people.

Despite the criticism, Jokowi insisted that the KND could play a vital role in the push to protect
people with disabilities so that no disabled person would be left behind.

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