Commission provides Braille ballots

Source : The Jakarta Post

The principle of direct, public and free elections where voting secrecy is guaranteed -- commonly referred to with the ellipsis of luber -- may just be another catchall term in the vocabulary of Indonesian democracy, a concept that citizens can easily take for granted.

But for the 1.5 percent of the country's population who are blind or visually impaired, the ability to exercise what is actually an inherent civil and political right remains a distant privilege.

The situation, however, is about to change for Jakarta's blind and visually impaired residents as the Jakarta Elections Commission will equip all of the 11,256 poll booths set up for Wednesday's gubernatorial election with a Braille ballot map.

""We're providing a template aid for the visually impaired, which will be made available at each polling booth,"" commission secretary Muflizar told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

The voter is supposed to slip the ballot paper in between a template made in the size of the ballot paper and commence voting by punching their choice after reading the Braille description on top of the two punch boxes.

The usage of the Braille template, however, is not a first in Indonesia's election history. It was used for the first time during the 2004 presidential election.

A slight adjustment has nonetheless been made to the design of the ballot papers for the gubernatorial election, Muflizar said.

A special hologram sticker, which is placed on the left side on the back of each ballot paper for authenticity verification, further assists the blind in properly placing the paper in its correct position.

Made Adi Gunawan, the secretary of the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Union for the Blind, welcomes the initiative.

""The sticker's smooth surface allows a blind voter to locate the front side of the ballot so the paper won't be upside down,"" he said Monday.

""Blind voters who cannot read Braille can still cast their vote by feeling the two Roman numerals under the two punch boxes corresponding to the poll number of each candidate"".

Adi estimated that there are around 23,000 blind and visually impaired people in Jakarta.

Although the provincial poll commission does not have the latest data on registered blind voters, the General Elections Commission recorded 4,000 blind voters in Jakarta in 2004.

According to Adi, the Jakarta commission's distribution of Braille templates at each poll booth not only allows for greater access for blind voters to vote, but also permits the votes to be cast privately and properly without the need of a helper.

The vice president of the Indonesian Union for the Blind, Otje Soedioto, however, is skeptical of the perceived improvement of the election facilities, stating that an overall change of mind-set is needed.

""A case in point is the delayed publication of blind-friendly ballots and election procedures that often fail to reach out to all eligible blind voters in time for the elections, not to mention that none of the candidates touch on the issues of blind and disabled people.

""Politicians, government officials and people in general need to realize that we're not the objects of philanthropy.""